The Magic Sword
by Nacroy
Summary: 214 years after the battle with Darkstar. "They came in the night…" Whispered a child's voice. "They killed everyone." The little boy said breathlessly; his face was still hidden under the dark fabric but his companion was less protected and a flash of thunder lit up his face for a second, revealing a mess of teal colored locks, round face and a pair of gleaming golden eyes.
1. Prologue

This fic was inspired by The Magic Sword band and their album "vol 1". This very chapter is based on one of their tracks titled "Kill Them All" .  
I'm a slow writer and not a very good one (also I don't have a beta so there's that) but aside from that I hope whoever still reads Slayers fics will find it somewhat enjoyable.

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In the dark mountain forest, inside a shallow cave two small figures sat hidden under a great black cloak. They were facing each other but the gloomy clouds had trapped the sunlight far above their gray backs and so none of them could be recognized under the ever present shadows of trees and rocks. The rain kept pouring from the skies like a thick, foggy curtain and thunder was rolling above their heads in promise of a great spectacle of lightning.

As soon as the showdown of light and sound had begun the cloaked figures huddled closer together in search for warmth and safety. They were talking to each other in hushed voices as if in fear of being found by the merciless bolts of blazing energy and struck down for daring to interrupt the song of the storm.

"They came in the night…" Whispered a child's voice. "They killed everyone." The little boy said breathlessly; his face was still hidden under the dark fabric but his companion was less protected and a flash of thunder lit up his face for a second, revealing a mess of teal colored locks, round face and a pair of gleaming golden eyes. The second boy was listening intently to the other and he held his breath as the child across him spoke. "I hid in the shadows… and then it came to me." The boy continued his story but paused for a brief moment to reach to his side and with one swift motion he drew out a short but slim black blade and held it up to the face of the other. "The magic sword, " The golden eyes widened when they saw the weapon and then shoot up and locked with a pair of blue irises shining with determination. "And I killed them all."

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A bolt of thunder struck nearby with an extreme force which shook the earth and boiled the water that was surrounding a tall man clothed in black. His entire head was clad in a black, symmetrical helmet with two spikes pointing out of the front, one at the top of his head and the other at the chin, their bases met in an indent placed at the height of his mouth. His cape and hood billowed behind him while a long, black blade was leaving his gloved grip to impale the enemy who was facing him, like a lance. The sea monster gave out a pained cry when the sword tore through it's slimy flesh with ease. The blade stopped then and hung in the air behind the beast, and it shot back through it's chest again to return to it's master's outstretched hand as it dragged with it the dark matter that started to seep out of the monster's body while it screamed in agony. And so the black sword had feasted upon its sizable prey until nothing was left of the tremendous beast that kept guard of the Demon Sea. It's servants were now scattering away in fear but the figure in black did not pursue them. His eyes were set on another target now. Another monster.

Without a sound he had vanished from the tall cliff upon which he stood while the waves kept their relentless assault on it's steep walls. The hunt has begun and nothing could stop him from pursuing his prey for he has a name to earn and the one who can give it to him is soon going to be informed about his first conquest. Deep Sea Dolphin had fallen at the hand of an unknown enemy and her forces are scattered about the sea. He knows that they must choose a new master now, otherwise their existence will serve no purpose even to themselves. The weaker mazoku have to have a master otherwise they will not be able to exist in this world.

Within seconds he appeared on the shore of the Wolfpack Island, led there by one of the panicked creatures who were still running in amok across the waters. This one however seemed to possess a stronger will than the others and had came to its senses in a shorter amount of time, following it's instinct to submit to a greater power.

He watched from a distance as it waddled across the beach and threaded through the darkness around them. The sun had set hours ago and the moon was casting a faint glow from behind the dark, stormy clouds. Soon the tempest that accompanied his earlier battle will hit this island as well and the man hidden under black garments anticipated his next moves. His feet were already silently following the monster from before and as they walked through an old path in the woods a clearing between trees and bushes came into view.

There was a lake in the middle of it and a tall obelisk protruded from the center. It was carved with many ancient spells and images but the man in the black did not care, for he already had a plan and a magical shield presented no threat to him.

Quietly he stood and watched his prey while it raised it's claw towards the pillar of limestone. A moment later he had vanished again and reappeared right behind the monster, and he drew his black blade and removed his target's head off of its shoulders with one swing of his arm. His black sword once again had drawn a dark essence from it's victim and quickly absorbed it so no carcass would remain. Now he waited for the guards that his latest kill had summoned. The clouds above him had thickened and a distant rumble of thunder could be heard steadily making it's way towards him. The air was still and warm, it seemed to be charged with the power of upcoming storm.

Suddenly, three figures appeared around the man in a spiked helmet. For a moment they were perplexed by the presence of an unexpected visitor but they recoiled quickly and took a defensive stance. All of them bearing features more animalistic in nature than human.

"Who are you and what are you doing here!? State your business!" One of them bellowed as he took a step closer to the intruder.

"I come with a message for the Greater Beast Zelas Metallium." A cold and deformed voice from within the black helmet spoke. "One of the lords has fallen. I saw it happen."

"So you come to give a report? How come we've never seen you here?" The other guard questioned while he pointed his spear at the strange man.

Their eyes were gleaming with suspicion and they were ready to attack at any given moment.

"Ah, but you see… I am just a messenger. I do not dwell here nor do I serve your master." The man in black answered and then he had sheathed his sword. His nonchalant moves and calm tone of voice was taken as a sign of submission and the guards had lowered their weapons. "I merely seek to pass information."

The three monsters glanced at each other, their eyes gleamed in silent agreement.

"Very well." Said the third guard who so far remained silent. He extended his long, gnarled hand towards their charge. "You cannot be admitted into the Beastmaster's dwelling while armed. Give me your sword."

The messenger did not protest and he unbuckled his belt by which his sword hung and handed it to the guard but as soon as he let go of his weapon the beast has swayed forward and nearly fell to the ground. The blade had turned out to be extremely heavy and whilst it's owner had no problem with swaying it as he pleased, the hands that were alien to it were having trouble with keeping a hold on it.

"What is this thing!?" The monster cried out in surprise.

"One would call it a sword but it may be that you had not seen such a weapon yet." Jeered a deformed voice of the man in black. This angered the guards who had seized him by the elbows and and growled at him dangerously and yet it seemed to not yield a desired reaction for the stranger did not appear frightened nor even alarmed by their actions. "I have come to deliver a message. Are you planning to stand here and wait until the storm catches up with us, or are you going to lead me to your master?" He added impatiently which increased their confusion.

They could not taste fear on him and that made them wary in turn. They tightened their grips on the spears they were carrying and the monster who disarmed the newcomer swayed on his legs as he tried not to drop the slender blade that was resting in his arms.

"And your name? How do we introduce you to the Beastmaster?" One of the guards asked impatiently.

"Grimnir you may call me. Now, shall we go?" He straightened against their hold and waited for their reply.

Again, they had looked at each other, this time a frown was adorning each of their horrendous faces but they said nothing and disappeared with him in their clutches. Mere seconds later they teleported into a spacious hall. A large set of doors were set in the stone wall in front of them.

Grimnir duly noted that only two guards were standing with him now and he had guessed that the third one must have gone straight to their master to announce his visit. It was the one who took his sword. For a brief moment he wondered if the Beastmaster would take notice of it and if she did, would she recognize the danger of this weapon? He did not have the time to ponder this question however, because the name he had given to them has been called from behind the now opening doors. So she had not yet understood her peril.

The guards let him go and with an unwavering step he strode into the great room adorned with well crafted furniture and a number of potted plants situated in various places. The royal blue curtains were drawn over the tall windows and the light of many torches illuminated the space around him. The Greater Beast Zelas Metallium was sitting on a lounge across him, her hair were short and fiery in color, and her body was larger in size than a body of a human; next to her stood the guard who had confiscated his blade. The monster was barely able to keep himself up as the weight of the blade grew with each passing minute.

"I heard you bring important news for me." A pair of red eyes of the Greater Beast were set on the man in black. "Speak, and don't bore me with small talk lest I slay you before I'll learn anything useful."

Without wasting time the messenger stepped closer. "Yes, indeed I come with news and I fear that they do not bode well for you, for my message to you is this: I have destroyed the Deep Sea Dolphin and now I have come to vanquish you and to take your name!" And as he said these words he had outstretched his hand and his blade had returned to it from the hands of a bewildered guard. At that Zelas quickly jolted to her feet with her anger and bewilderment building within and her claws ready to rip her enemy apart. None could threaten one of the five great monster lords and live and yet for some reason she could not understand how the one who stood before her seemed somehow impossible to kill.

Disregarding those unnerving feelings she lunged forward and so did the man in a black helmet. And so the storm had finally reached the Wolfpack Island and the roar of thunder had merged with the sounds of battle.


	2. Of Peace Disturbed

The dawn was slowly dragging the last rays of sun behind the horizon and dark shadows under the trees that grew scattered around a small cottage were growing in size. Red and golden leaves were starting to fall and the breeze began to grow steadily more chill, heralding the arrival of autumn. But the woods shielded the dwelling well from the more hazardous winds that were blowing from the mountains and whispering already about the cold winter that never left their white peaks. A soft light was radiating from one of the windows at the ground floor and illuminating the grass in front of the cottage with it's glowing impression. Inside a young woman with long, blonde hair was bustling around the kitchen and counting the lids for a line of jars that she had prepared earlier to be filled with a portion of her blueberry jam, sealed and stacked away. She wiped some of them with the hem of her apron and squinted her blue eyes at a few others in search of scratches and rust on the inner sides of the lids. A number of them appeared to not fulfill her standards and she threw them to the basket on the side.

The jam, which was still cooking, bubbled in a large pot and when Filia's pointy ears had caught the sound of the boiling mixture she quickly spun around and moved it off the fire. Oh! How could she had forgotten to leave it like that! It would have burned and all her work would go to waste! The thought made her angry for a moment but with a few practiced breaths she managed to compose herself. Everything was fine and no amount of jam would end up becoming a part of a composter. And so she had resumed her work and reached into one of the wooden cabinets in search of a new stack of lids to replace the damaged ones.

The winter had been said to be harsh this year and she was accumulating and preparing many kinds of fruits and vegetables to stash in her pantry for the time when the snow will cover the lands and trees around her little dwelling. For a brief moment she wondered if the war that humans had wrought between this country and a neighboring one will continue through the winter but she had quickly brushed the thought aside as she reminded herself that she had cut ties with them many years ago.

Fillia was different from them for she was a dragon who had taken a human form and chose to live away from her kind after learning about their crimes against their own race, and after she took part in a campaign that resulted in saving the world from an ancient evil summoned here by beings from a universe different from her own. It had turned her own views and beliefs upside down and led her to make a series of, unusual for her kind, choices.

Now, that more than 200 years had passed since that event had taken place, she was living peacefully in the woods under the mountains without caring about the happenings around the world outside of it.

She took a bag of spare lids out of the cabinet and pulled several out after inspecting them for any imperfections. A few of them were scratched or bore a blemish of spreading rust but most were still good to use. Satisfied with her find, Fillia walked over the counter where she had placed the jars along with clean lids and laid the new ones on the pile. The damaged ones were discarded like before. For a moment she wondered if she had enough jars, there were still two pumpkins to pickle and tomato ketchup, which she still had to make, and beets as well as many other things. Perhaps she should have told Val to bring her a box of new containers from the town. She knew that despite her not wanting him to take part in humans petty squabbles, he would not honour her wishes and visit their settlements frequently to hear the tidings that would come from battlefront.

Fillia was so anxious about finding that one day Val would decide to join the humans in their war that she's been trying to talk him out of interacting with them whenever she could. He was like a son to her. Little over two hundred years ago she received an Ancient Dragon egg from which he had later hatched and she'd done everything to protect him since then. He was the last of his kind and it was thanks to her people that his own brethren were now nearly extinct. But her kinsmen had paid for that dearly during the battle with a destruction driven deity that had been set loose in her world.

Thankfully it was all over now and the only thing she needed to concern herself with was an amount of jars in her home and Val getting whacked with sticks by a bunch of intolerant mortals. It was nothing a dragon wouldn't be able to handle, especially as powerful one as Val. But still! He was under no circumstances allowed to join a pointless fight between some human settlements. It would only bring them trouble and she did not need another reminder of how bigoted and selfish humans were capable of being. Honestly! They used to be better than this!

She took a ladle and started filling the jars with hot jam. One after another she placed them in a neat line across the counter and then screwed the lids on and when she was done, Filia lifted the big, jam-smeared pot and carried it to the large basin that stood in the corner of the kitchen, right next to the fireplace, in order to clean it. Later she would have to pasteurize the jam so it won't spoil during winter and this particular pot was the only one big enough to squeeze more than two jars in it.

As she began rolling up her sleeves a very familiar chill went up her spine and for a second a sense of blind anger rushed through her entire being. She knew this feeling very well for she had grown accustomed to it for a brief period of time, when she was travelling with a sorceress and her friends in search for a threat that was foretold to befall upon their world.

A Mazoku! Here! And not just an ordinary one but one of the very worst of his kind! For a moment everything was silent but then a knock came from the front door and she shot up from her crouching position beside the basin full of warm water and a dirty pot. She stood there utterly bewildered. She hadn't seen him for more than two hundred years and now he suddenly shows up on her doorstep?! Not to mention that this place was heavily warded from prying eyes by a dragon-made barrier. How could he possibly find her here? A wave of dread washed over her as she thought about a possible reason for him to pay her such an abrupt visit. Does he know about… Another knock resounded through her house and she forced herself to stop panicking but grown angry instead, which was a healthy reaction for a dragon to have when faced with a Mazoku. These things were inherently evil and sought to bring destruction upon everything that lives. Not to mention that they thrive on negative emotions experienced by other beings. To think that something like this would be so close to her. Again. Him! That… that MOSTER! It didn't matter that they had gotten really close once. It was just one time! A moment of weakness! Their party had just disbanded back then and she was at loss! And he was still there for a brief moment!

Red faced, Filia reached towards the basing and pulled out an unwashed ladle. She stalked towards the main door with kitchenware clutched in both of her hands and raised next to her head like a sword. Then she halted in front of it and stared in front of her as if she were trying to see through thick wooden planks.

"Begone beast!" She bellowed at the door. It was a little odd that he didn't show up right in her house as he possessed the ability to appear and disappear wherever he wanted at a whim. However, she was glad that he hadn't done it.

"Is that how you greet old friends?" Came a reply from the other side. The owner of the voice sounded a little pained but she paid no mind to that.

"We're NOT friends!" The dragoness stepped closer to the door.

"Oh how could I have forgotten. We're kind of something more than that, aren't we?" This time he gave an impression of being a little annoyed but it was nothing compared to Filia's own growing anger.

"IT WAS ONE TIME! It doesn't make us anything! I don't even see you as an enemy anymore! I don't care about you! Whatever you came here for, you won't have it! Get lost!" She stomped her leg and pressed her face against the door, and strained her ears for any sounds indicating his withdrawal, but none came.

"Filia… let me in. This is not the time for this." Now he sounded resigned, tired even.

This didn't seem right. She's never heard him be so miserable about not being invited into a house and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what was causing it.

Cursing her own curiosity, she unlocked the door and slowly pulled them open just enough to be able to peek through the gap. When her gaze finally landed on him she gasped and dropped the ladle that she had been gripping until now. Without thinking she opened the door fully and let the lamps from the inside illuminate his silhouette. All the anger and wariness were immediately discarded and her motherly instincts took over as she took a few steps forward and lifted her hands to his face. Stalling only a few centimeters away from a deep set of wounds that ran from the top of his head, straight across his left eye and ended at the side of his chin. Three gruesome gashes seemed to be bleeding black and she noticed that he was leaning heavily on his staff. Not to mention that he didn't wear his white gloves as he usually did.

One of his hands looked like it was bitten by something and blood was oozing from it and dripping down the wooden handle. Filia didn't know that Mazoku could bleed. Their bodies were supposed to be only projections meant to interact with this plane of existence. And yet here he was. Bleeding out on her doorstep.

"Xellos… what on earth happened to you?" She took his arm and gently led her inside to sit him by the table and have a better look at this bizarre view. "And don't you dare say it's a secret!"

The Mazoku just opened his eyes and while looking down at her, he sighed. "It's nice to see you too." But when Filia put her hands on her hips as if ready to scold him, Xellos added.

"We were attacked… we need aid." He then walked around her and invited himself into the cottage.

"Excuse me? What do you mean by We?" She followed him while sporting a feeling that she knew who her guest was talking about but she hoped that he'd found another group of dangerous humans to follow around and simply fell victim to one of their risky adventures. There's a war going on after all. The weapons of mortals had advanced through the years, there's no telling what they would be capable of doing to a Mazoku, or even a dragon for that matter.

"My master and I." He grunted and closed his eyes as if he were in great pain.

"And how do you expect me to aid you? Because I absolutely refuse to serve that horrendous dark lord of yours. I wouldn't be even letting you in if you weren't looking like this. I didn't know you could get hurt in such manner anyway. Who could possibly do something like this to you?" She crouched next to the chair by the table, upon which Xellos had placed himself and her gaze ventured towards his wounds once more.

He was silent again, pondering his answer while Filia wondered about the damage he had sustained. After a few minutes had passed he leaned his elbow against the table and whispered. "Beastmaster."

"You mean to tell me, that your own master attacked you and you expect me to help her?!" The dragoness straightened up with her fists clenched by her sides.

"Calm down Filia… or maybe not." Xellos said with a little smirk on his face. "I'll tell you everything this time. Just give me a moment… that barrier you put up out there really wasn't easy to break through. Especially now. It burned the gloves off of my hands." He wriggled his bare fingers in front of himself and opened his eyes again to take a look around. The line of jars full of blueberry jam caught his attention. "Getting ready for winter I see."

"Don't change the subject." Filia hissed while she kept wondering if there was something she could do to stop his wounds from bleeding so extensively.

"I'm not changing the subject. I'm just trying to be pleasant. Perhaps you are finding yourself in need of assistance around the house? The winter is expected to be exceptionally harsh this year. Living alone in the middle of nowhere must be challenging, I imagine?" Xellos rested his chin in his open palm and smiled against the three open gashes tearing up the side of his face.

"No. I have Val." She folded her arms across her chest and squinted at the bleeding Mazoku. He was acting in a very suspicious manner and she didn't like where this was going. "Can you stop bleeding, or whatever it is that the holes in your face and hand are doing?"

"Beg your pardon… ah this." He nonchalantly pointed at his wounds with his injured hand. "Does it bother you?"

"Yes!" Filia cried out and stomped her leg.

"I can't do anything about it. Wounds given to me by my master unfortunately will show." The bitten hand that he raised up now started touching the torn flesh on his face and smearing the black blood all over the left side of it. "You want to fix it. Don't you?" He said with a somewhat amused note ringing through his voice.

I absolutely do not want to touch you!" The dragoness backed away and waved her hands in front of herself in panic. "It's just gross!"

"... gross? Oh but of course! Only you could see someone injured and in pain, and react with absolute disgust!" He retorted without bothering to hide his offense.

"You're a Mazoku! Shouldn't you be happy to feel it!?" She yelled back, angry at his implied

accusation of her heartlessness.

"Do I seem to be delighting in it!?" He was now facing her fully and clenching his staff which was resting on his lap.

"How should I know!? You never show how you really feel!" Filia hissed at him, feeling like she was reliving one of her old memories from the times when she was forced to travel with Xellos.

"Well! This is me…" The Mazoku placed his palm on his chest. "Showing you how I feel now! Which is in pain and not happy about it!"

At this she had turned away from her agitated guest and strode towards the basin to finish washing the pot after silently deciding that doing so would help her calm down. Damn this horrible creature! He can bleed to death if he wants to. He's acting like he's already getting better anyway!

She kept scrubbing the vessel violently while Xellos sat quietly by the table at the other end ot the kitchen. After a few minutes of awkward silence he spoke again.

"We really need shelter."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Fillia screamed so loudly that the walls of her wooden cottage trembled with the sheer power of her voice. She turned around with the handle of the pot still trapped in her grip and sent a wave of water splashing at the Mazoku who jumped off the chair, barely avoiding it.

"I don't like this idea either, but there's no other way!" He stated while pointing his staff at the angry woman in front of him to protect himself in case she decides to throw the pot at him.

"What do you mean there's no other way!? There IS! You go somewhere else! Away from me! Find yourselves a cave in the mountains, or better yet! Go to those other horrid Mazoku overlords! Isn't your mistress like, a family with them or something!? Go to them! NOW! OUT!" She began swinging the pot furiously and kept splattering water around the kitchen.

"You don't understand! One of those overlords is dead! The man who's hunting us got to her first! And he's targeting the remaining lords! It is not safe for us to keep together until we figure out what he is and how to get rid of him!" Xellos explained while he tried to put some more distance between them. "I helped you before! In the cave! Would be nice of you to return the favor!"

"So that's why you've done it! You- YOU-! I have been wondering about it ever since! You wicked trash! No. No! NO! I won't return anything! You wouldn't have this world to ruin as you please if it weren't for me putting up with you all the time!" The dragoness screamed in ire. "Begone! And don't come back! That wench can eat you for all I care!" She finally threw the pot at the cringing Mazoku and grabbed another random item from the counter to fling at him.

"I can't do that- there's nowhere else! You'll be rewarded." He said and ducked away from a mug that Filia sent flying at his head.

"I don't want anything from you!" Once again she stomped her feet on the wooden floor and reached out to take a hold of yet another item that happened to be unfortunate enough to lay in close proximity. "... or from her!" She threw it with as much force as could muster. "You are being chased by an unknown devilry that can destroy the highest ranking Mazoku and you come here of all places! I won't let you put me and Val in danger!"

"He won't come here. I've only found this place because I've felt a dragon made barrier that you set up in here while I was passing by. We'll harden it up and it will be impenetrable!" A few drops of blood fell from Xellos's face caught Filia's attention.

She gritted her teeth and without a word pulled a clean kitchen towel out of one of the drawers set under the counter, and tossed it to him.

"Stop bleeding at my floor." Was all that she said before the front door swung open and a panicked Val stormed into the kitchen shouting in draconish.

He was bewilderingly tall, much taller than Xellos remembered him to be when he still was a Mazoku.

"Úlita! Fræ vanne Mazo-" He froze mid sentence when he'd found himself face to face with alarmed Xellos who was standing with his back to the wall next to the entrance to the kitchen. The young dragon gasped audibly and looked at the monster in question with wide, golden eyes. "Xellos Metallium… " He whispered in awe, like a child would when they had a chance to see their favourite fairytale hero. A wide smile spread across his lips while his entire body seemed to shake with glee. "I've heard so much about you- what happened to your face?" Val frowned and a few teal colored strands of his hair brushed against his nose as he angled his head to the side in confusion.

Before their guest had a chance to answer however, Filia ran up to the other dragon and pulled him away from the servant of the Greater Beast. "Don't talk to him!" She growled at her fosterling and stepped between him and the Beast Priest.

"Excuse me?" The Mazoku waved his hand to call their attention back to himself but to no avail.

"Why not? He seems injured." Val crossed his arms on front of his chest and looked at the shards of the broken cup which were now lying scattered around the floor, and at the pool of water under his feet. "Did you do this to him?" He raised his eyebrows at the other dragon.

"No!- Yes… but no! You can't injure a Mazoku with a piece of kitchenware. He showed up already trashed." She put her hands on her hips and lifted her chin to look up into his eyes.

He brought his arms up in defense and said. "I just wanted to know." Then turned away from her and walked back to close the door that still stood ajar. Val halted in his steps before he reached his destination and bent down to pick up the ladle which Filia had dropped when she first saw Xellos's injuries. "Really?" He looked back at his caretaker.

"Really." The Mazoku replied before the dragoness could.

"You! Shut up!" She turned sharply to Beastmaster's priest and pointed her finger at him. "And get lost! I don't want to see you ever again."

When Val heard these words he stepped away from the now closed door and strode back into the kitchen. Disbelief was painted over his face and he now stood between the exit and two other occupants of the cottage. "You're kicking him out?" He asked and looked at the Maozku and then again at Filia. "In this state? We need to help him."

"Exactly." Xellos nodded at Val and flashed him a toothy smile.

"Oh, no we don't." She stated with a hint of finality in her voice. "He wants to bring here Zelas and I will not allow that insidious creature into my house." She shook her head at them both to emphasize her words.

"Really!? Why?" The young dragon seemed to be more excited at the idea of having a Dark Lord as a housemate, than fearful or angry as he ought to be which bothered Filia to no end.

Apparently Val's original personality was that of a happy, overly curious and easily fascinated puppy with no sense of self preservation. The amount of trouble he'd gotten them into during the last two hundred years was beyond count.

"We are being hunted!" Xellos exclaimed with more vigor than he possessed when he first got to explain their situation to FIlia. All the anger that she was oozing seemed to help him recover some of his strength.

"Hunted? By whom?!" Val asked eagerly while not paying attention to the angry dragoness who kept shaking her head rapidly at the monster.

"I don't really know, to be honest. You see, I wasn't there when he attacked. But my master could tell you all about it! So, how about you'll lift that barrier of yours for a second so I could bring her in?" The smile on Xellos's face broadened and he swept some blood from his face with the rag that Filia threw at him earlier.

"Xellos!" She stomped her foot so hard the wooden planks that were lining the floor almost broke.

"Sure!" The younger dragon agreed, his smile was now mirroring the one worn by their guest.

"Valtýr! NO!" Filia waved her hands in front of her frantically as if she wanted to grab onto either of them and shake the idea of bringing yet another monster into her house out of their heads.

But Val only reached for a heart-shaped pendant that hung on a leather string which was wrapped around his neck and hidden under the collar of his white, linen shirt and passed it to the Mazoku, saying: "It works like a key". In turn he was given the kitchen towel that the Best Priest had been pressing against the injured side of his face. And with that, Xellos was gone, presumably to fetch his master.

"Are you crazy?!" Filia bellowed at the taller dragon. How could he?! After all those tales about the Kōma War and the slaughter of her people by Xellos himself; after all that talk about the nature of the Mazoku race; after all this begging for her to check under their beds and in the closet to make sure that no monster hid there, waiting to harm them not so many years ago. (at least from a dragon's perspective) He's went and done that! "How could you Va!? Don't you understand what they are?! Those Mazoku are going to bring nothing but ruin upon us!"

He had laid his hands on her shoulders and squeezed lightly. "Please calm down ύlita. I think it will be better for us to let them stay."

Filia looked him in the eyes and furrowed her brow in confusion. How could this possibly not end with a disaster? He most certainly appeared to know something that she didn't.

"Enlighten me, then." She said bitterly, her eyes not leaving his.

"Look at what is happening around, with the humans and their wars. This Beastmaster seems to be in bad enough shape to seek refuge under the wings of her worst enemy but she's still powerful enough to take sides in that war and do damage to the human race." Val's hands fell to his sides but he still kept looking Filia in the eyes while a ripple off understanding swept through her. "We can't let them run around and sick people at each other for fun, or worse, when we have a chance to keep an eye on them."

The dragoness nodded reluctantly. His reasoning was making a lot of sense, but still, Zelas was a Dark Lord more powerful than Xellos. Having her in here no matter the damage she sustained, was extremely dangerous. If her priest was capable of destroying a horde of dragons just by sweeping his finger in their general direction then there's no telling what horrible talents his master was gifted with.

"You're too enthusiastic about this." Filia sighed with resignation. There was no undoing this mess. The Mazoku already got the "key" to her barrier, which she had set up to specifically keep them away. This entire situation proved to be too much for her to handle during such a short amount of time. She already had a busy day and she'd simply ran out of energy to kick and scream in rage fit like she normally would when she was two hundred years younger and hadn't had an anger management training during Val's childhood days. Nothing could topple those times. Not even an obnoxious monster. "So, any ideas about how are we going to handle them?"

"I am not some animal to be handled." A low voice growled from above, next to the entrance to the kitchen.

Zelas had arrived with her hand clasped around the back of Xellos's neck, holding him a little above the ground in a fashion of a child who would clutch one of their stuffed toys in their hand as they drag it around wherever they go. She was so big that her head barely avoided touching the ceiling. Her unnaturally red eyes were fixed upon them and her short hair were ruffled, but that wasn't the worst thing about her appearance. It was evident that whoever had laid their hands on her, was very close to accomplishing his goal because The Mazoku lord very clearly lacked her left arm and at least one tooth; her right thigh was deeply slashed across and there also seemed to be a stab wound between her ribs. Filia would most definitely be intimidated by the appearance of someone like Zelas in her cottage if it wasn't for the Beastmaster's general state of being.

"It's you." Filia growled at the woman in front of her. It was evident that her low tolerance for the members of the monster race had not dwindled through the years.

"Oh yes. It is me." Zelas zeroed her attention on the dragoness and narrowed her eyes dangerously. "And I have heard quite a lot about you." She put Xellos down in a more gentle manner than she seemed to be capable of and limped forward. "You had fused your powers along with my priest. You're this little shiny lizard who can't seem to quite understand her place." The corner of the Beastmaster's lip quirked up when she felt the wave of anger that Filia began to radiate. "You've made yourself quite a cozy den here - where are we exactly?" She turned to her servant, who until now kept silent. His wounds seemed to be still oozing blood but he paid no heed to them.

"Somewhere between the southern Khamarn and northern Midna. The girdle of mountains behind us marks the border." He answered with his typical smile plastered to his face and his eyes glued shut. "I have to admit that had I not had been familiar with Filia's magic I would have missed this place entirely."

"As you were supposed to… " Filia growled at the priest and started clenching her fists at her sides. She wanted to say something more but Val quickly interrupted her attempts to establish her superiority over the two visiting Mazoku.

"Would you like something to drink!?" He cut in as he clasped his hands in front of himself and rubbed them together awkwardly.

They all turned their attention to him and Zelas seemed to ponder the question for a while before flashing at him a somewhat mocking smile and accepting his offer.

"Why yes, I would like to have some tea. Pepermint, if you have it." She stepped away from the dragoness and sat herself on the chair by the table that Xellos was inhabiting not long ago. It squeaked under her weight but stubbornly held itself together despite Filia's silent wishes for it to break apart. "I'm glad to see that at least one dragon in here is capable of receiving a guest properly."

Beastmaster's comment fueled Filia's anger even more and just as she was about to call her a "worthless scum lord of the middle of nowhere" Val shouted: "YES! We do have mint leaves! Mint tea is my favourite really!" while shuffling through the cabinets in search or mugs and said leaves.

"Very well then, I will heat the water." Filia mumbled and proceeded to fill the kettle and hang it above the fire that kept crackling in the hearth. She cocked her head in Val's direction "Make some for me too while you're at it."

Meanwhile Xellos took a seat next to his master and sighed heavily. His injuries were clearly one of the reasons that caused his discomfort but he also seemed worn out and the aloof aura which he had always maintained by default was gone. He acted almost as if he were… lost. It was a rare sight to witness and the dragon maiden couldn't help but wonder about the series of events that lead to him being in this miserable state.

"So, what brings you two here?" The younger dragon asked the Mazoku who were sitting behind him as Filia sat on the chair by the opposite to Zelas's end of the table.

The silence that stretched after that lasted for several minutes while the Mazoku lord tried to decide if they deserved to know the truth, and how much of it should she allow them to learn, if they do. She kept scratching at her chin pensively with her remaining hand while completely dismissing her own wounds while Xellos's body slightly tensed. The Greater Beast had refused to tell even him about the details of what had happened on the Wolfpack Island until he finds a safe place for them to stay and restore some of their power. And so he sat and waited for his master's decision.

Zelas's eyes were focused on Filia, and she seemed to consider her strength among other things. Right now the potency of a dragon's body was the most important factor to the Beastmaster. Would those two dragons pose a threat to her, or would they take her side? Maybe they would flee if her attacker were to find their little cottage, which would still be more preferable to them turning against her. Unfortunately the situation didn't leave her much room to chose and even in this weakened state she could eliminate a pair of flying lizards.

Her gaze flickered briefly to her priest at the thought of having to destroy the two. She knew that Xellos had this odd set of sentiments for Filia. She could feel it on him on occasions before Grimnir had shown up and she can feel it now but in a greater intensity. She can't risk having him go nuts right now.

Finally she appeared to make up her mind and to the relief of the other three Zelas decided to reveal to them the circumstances of her assault. "A creature clad in black came to me claiming to have information about an attack on Deep Sea Dolphin." She sank back in her chair and turned her eyes toward the window.

"My guards thought that he was a Mazoku. I think they couldn't sense anything from him I know that I didn't. Not at first… " She clenched her fist while Val trotted to the side to take the kettle out of the hearth and pour some boiling water into the teapot. "That bastard somehow knew how to call for them. Only Mazoku can do that but he's definitely not one! That- that thing!" Xellos recoiled from his master slightly as he felt her anger building up.

"He had this black helmet covering his entire head. Weirdly shaped, symmetrical. It was so black that light did not reflect off of it. And he had a sword! Just as black as that damned headpiece!" Zelas slammed her fist on the table at the memory and the plank in that spot gave way to her power and cracked, forming a hole by the edge.

The Beastmaster looked down at the splintered wood at her side and took a glimpse at Filia who, along with Val, appeared to be perplexed. Thinking that the sudden outburst of violence had startled them, she placed her hand on her lap and took a deep breath. She missed the way in which the two dragons had exchanged glances when the sword was mentioned but Xellos silently took notice of it.

Val took this time to fill the mugs and place them in front of everyone, and then he took one for himself and returned to the spot that he was previously occupying. "We don't mind the table." He said, hoping that it'll encourage Zelas to finish her story and Filia narrowed her eyes at him; very clearly minding the aforementioned furniture a lot.

"My guards had confiscated that weapon from him but it didn't matter. It just flew back into his hands once he stepped into my chambers and declared himself an enemy! He just… walked in like that and said he's destroyed Deep Sea Dolphin! The audacity… " Zelas gritted her teeth and her eyes flashed red. "I knew there was something wrong but I couldn't place it, so I reacted when he ran at me. I shouldn't have… but there was something in him that caused me great distress. We fought but he managed to strike me with that cursed blade of his." At this point she started to breathe heavily as if reliving that encounter was drawing a great amount of power out of her.

"That sword reached to my body beyond this plane of existence and pulled me in." The Mazoku lord's voice was almost a whisper when spoke those words and Xellos's eyes shot open when he comprehended what was said to them.

"You don't mean… " He breathed out in disbelief.

"That's right- " The Greater Beast looked back from her subordinate to Filia. "I am mortal. And had he as much as grazed me one more time I would be dead, or worse. I noticed back then, why that thing made me feel so weird." She closed her eyes and faced away from the table. "He is a predator of sorts. He waltzed in here fresh out of one hunt and into another practically soaked in Deep Sea Dolphin's remnants of her astral body still clinging to him."

"So, he wants to eat you." Val commented, appearing entirely unperturbed by the story and this time it was Zelas who sent him a nasty look.

"It seems so." She snarled.

"Why?" This time it was Filia who spoke after quietly sitting through entire story.

"I don't know. He didn't say." The Beastmaster growled in irritation. She didn't like being questioned.

"Oh really? He didn't say, or you don't want us to know?" Filia frowned at the Mazoku on the other end of the table. It was clear that she didn't believe Zelas entirely and the monster in question leaned on the surface and bared bloodied her fangs.

"Do I look like I'm in the mood for games to you?" She hissed at the dragoness while Xellos attempted to push his chair away from them as discreetly as possible.

"Do I look like I'm going to trust a monster?" The other woman hissed back.

"Do I look like I'm going to clean up after you're done fighting?" Val cut in. He put his hands on his hips and tried to look displeased. The other's attention quickly turned to him.

Seeing this, Xellos rapidly pulled himself up with the help of his staff and squared his shoulders. "I think you all look just fine!" He stated with utter confidence.

A deafening silence filled the cottage as they all stared at each other in search of context but when no one made any further attempts to make any kind of conversation out of it Filia stood up from the table and looked down at the Mazoku lord.

"You're staying." She said. It wasn't a question nor a plea but a fact and so it had not required a reply. Without uttering another word she grabbed Val by the arm and dragged him out of the kitchen and into the neighboring room/

When they were out of earshot she had let him go and turned briefly to make sure that none of the Mazoku followed them to eavesdrop. Satisfied she looked up at the younger dragon. "Garn öse. (Not a word.) Do you understand?" She whispered and her words were laced with a silent warning.

"Of course. I wouldn't dare even think of it." He replied defensively and shook his head, making his unruly teal colored hair fall on his face.

"Good. Now, since this was your idea, then you will be the one who prepares a room for them. The one upstairs across yours." Filia smiled and Val's shoulders fell in defeat. "We'll also have to give them something to keep them from bleeding all over the place. I don't want my house to get a Mazoku essence smeared all over it."

With that, she turned around and walked back to the kitchen, leaving a resigned Val to deal with a task of accommodating their guests, to deal with.


	3. Speaking of Wounds

chapter word count: 4,226

* * *

It didn't take much time for the monsters to get used to sharing a small cottage with Filia and her foster son. Zelas kept mostly to her room upstairs, across Val's and did not bother with tasks as mundane as walking or eating, or speaking with anyone who was not her direct subordinate, who in turn had to communicate between her and the rest of the world which consisted of two dragons in human forms, the mice, all the walls within the house and his own marred reflection in the mirror.

Speaking of wounds.

After three days of changing bandages and a considerable amounts of verbal abuse coming mostly from Filia, Xellos's wounds did not stop bleeding. Unused to being injured in this fashion he seemed at loss when it came to maintaining them, unlike his master who took care of herself with more skill than an ex-immortal being, that most certainly had not had an occasion to bleed before, seemed to possess. He kept peeling the bandages off of his face and hand randomly just to spite the dragon maiden who was incredibly insistent on putting them there.

The priest evidently enjoyed Filia's endless struggle to keep him from soaking her belongings in his black blood. Her anger helped him with recovering his strength and it also brightened (or darkened, depending on the point of view) his mood after he'd learned about what had happened to his master. It certainly was a shock for him to hear that the Greater Beast Zelas Metallium had suffered similar fate to the one that befell upon the Chaos Dragon Gaav and turned him against the other Mazoku lords. He had spent the night quietly brooding about the possibility of Zelas going mad, and trying to foresee the future turn of events. But no matter how many plans he made and how many possibilities he took into consideration, there appeared to be no way out for him from this situation.

The creature whom Zelas later named Grimnir seemed to be hunting Mazoku of greater power, meaning that Xellos himself was most likely marked on his list of monsters to reap. He pondered about the mission he had received from his master shortly before the attacks. They had sent him to look for Riskfalto, Deep Sea Dolphin's general, who did not answer the calls of her master for many days. Damaged, as she was from her previous battle with the Knight of the Aqualord, she still managed to put herself together quite well and with the aid of her lord, her power was mostly restored by now. It had seemed like she had become the metaphorical immovable object that one finds themself stumbling upon in battle, as she was before the unfortunate incident, up until now. It didn't take much time for him to locate his fellow Mazoku, or rather what was left of her.

While monsters are not supposed to leave corpses behind when annihilated, Riskfalto's startlingly physical body seemed to defy that rule entirely. If he knew back then what was really happening, he would've had ran back to his master immediately but since that was not so, Xellos stalled to examine the gruesome scene further.

Someone made an effort to pin her to the steep stone wall with her own forked sword and paint around her a large symbol he had not seen before, with her blood. Dolphin's general was also robbed of both of her only remaining eye.

He couldn't tell if the sight pleased him, or if it had put him in a certain kind of uneasiness. Between all those feelings unnecessarily swirling somewhere inside of him the priest decided to focus on one, curiosity, which prompted him further to stupidly waste his time by the remains surrounded by the mysterious sign.

At present he wondered if he would be of much help if he'd went straight to Zelas and faced the creature whom even she couldn't take down. The weird murder of Riskfalto obviously had something to do with Grimnir. Xellos's master had agreed with him on that when they had discussed the matter after claiming one of the three rooms in the cottage. It was possible that the dead general's corpse was a trap designed to keep him away. But that would mean that it was set by someone who knew him well enough to perceive that he'll stay where he's meant to long enough for them to carry out their attacks in "peace".

"I wonder what that symbol meant…" Xellos had muttered to himself as he kept floating absentmindedly under the ceiling.

"Stop that." Zelas commanded from the bed in thecorner of the room. The wooden furniture was obviously too small to accommodate her sizable body but that didn't stop her from lounging on it.

"Ah! My apologies, master." The priest gently lowered himself to the floor and bowed. He didn't get to say or do much more because Fillia's voice called for him from downstairs.

The Beastmaster looked up at the door and then at him. "It must be the bandages again." She grumbled at her servant, who kept standing awkwardly in the center of the small room.

"I'm afraid so." He nodded solemnly but made no move to leave.

"She is acting so disgustingly motherly. Makes me wonder why you kept craving her attention so much." Zelas said and the other Mazoku stiffened. It was a difficult topic for him and she knew that, which was why bringing it up at times entertained her so much. She enjoyed listening to the multitude of excuses that her priest seemed to come up with on the spot. But no matter how ridiculous the situation with the dragoness seemed to her, she still forbade Xellos to interact in any way with Filia before they had found themselves at her mercy.

Now the Mazoku lord could no longer keep her most loyal and only direct servant away from exposing him to this damaging factor. How could Filia influence something like Xellos so much was a mystery to her and a quiet voice in the back on her head told her that it was better for her to leave dealing with this particular inconvenience for the time when they're no longer forced to hide. She had enough problems for now and as long as her priest was following her orders, it was best to just let him be.

Xellos clutched his staff. "I-I don't recall her being like this. But she did some mothering when she's got Val, right? It must have awakened some of _those_ instincts."

"XELLOS! If I see more of my stuff covered in this black, disgusting Mazoku tar, you are going to SUFFER!" Fillia hollered impatiently.

Beastmaster appeared unmoved by the threats thrown at her servant by an angry dragon and the priest remained standing in place, with his head turned towards the door. He was obviously waiting to be dismissed.

"You were muttering something about some symbol. Was it the one you've found with Riskfalto?" Zelas decided to hold her servant for a while longer in hopes of angering the dragoness even more, just for the kick of it.

"Yes master." Xellos turned back to the Greater Beast. "I keep wondering what it could have meant. He wouldn't be leaving this behind for nothing." Xellos tapped his chin with his forefinger. Perhaps it contained some sort of a message that could help them uncover Grimnir's motives. A clue of sorts, or maybe it was his way of signing his work?

"XELLOS!" A shrill voice from below shook the wooden walls around them making the glass in the windowsills vibrate.

"That's true, but for now we don't have any way of finding out." Zelas ignored the furious howl. She delighted in the wrath that was radiating from the other woman and considered facing Filia herself to agitate her even more. It was quite entertaining to witness the dragoness go red in the face and struggle to make up colorful insults while stomping her legs.

"I wouldn't be so quick to conclude that." The priest said with a note of uncertainty in his voice. "I might be assuming things here but… when you mentioned the black sword back during the night when we arrived here, the dragons seemed to react oddly. Perhaps it was because I was out of sorts during that time, that I had not taken a closer look at them but now when I think about it, they seemed to me that they might have at least heard about it before." A few drops of blood dripped down from his face and hit the floor while he was talking and his master's eyes focused on the black blots they created on the wooden floor.

Zelas raised her eyebrows but otherwise made no move. She mulled over the information and at length she spoke. "And you're telling me this just now?" Her eyes returned up to his face and Xellos took a few steps back.

"My deepest apologies master!" He knelt down in front of the Mazoku lord. "I was under impression that you have noticed it too." He wasn't about to mention how Zelas' newfound mortality had disturbed him since he had first heard about it.

"It doesn't matter now. Go to that Filia of yours before she comes to me and makes a scene, and try to find out what they know about that sword." The Beastmaster hissed and waved her hand dismissively while she watched as her priest's jaw slightly tightened upon hearing his master refer to the dragoness as _something of his_.

He then bowed his head even lower as more drops of his blood fell next to his shoe, and then he disappeared from the room only to show up standing in the middle of the kitchen.

"Ooh Filia~!" He called into the empty space. It didn't take long for her to storm out of the back of the cottage, where the bathhouse was located. Her eyes gleamed dangerously and her golden hair were tied back into a ponytail; her beige linen dress billowing around her as she strode towards him. She was, however, less red faced than he imagined her to be at this point.

But of course he's going to fix that right away!

Before the dragoness managed to open her mouth and properly yell at him, Xellos disappeared from her sight and then reappeared right behind her. He pressed the wounded side of his face against hers while pinning a portion of her bangs between their heads.

"Were you calling for me?" He murmured into her pointy ear as a wide smirk stretched across his lips.

Instead of answering she spun around and tried to land a punch on whatever part of him would be the closest to her fist but to no avail, for he had vanished again just to show up sitting by the table.

"You slimy bastard! And to think I'm trying to help you!" Filia bawled and shook her fists at him. Her antics made the Mazoku feel somehow perturbed, as if something was amiss.

Xellos had quietly puzzled over this sense of mild discomfort while she kept seething at him and stomping her legs impatiently. He opened one eye to take a better look at her. The sudden spark of interest had silenced her attempts to bully him into wrapping a bandage over the three open wounds cutting across the left side of his face. A sudden realization that flashed across his mind made him frown and turn his head slightly to the side.

This abrupt change of mood caused Filia to step away from her current source of irritation and grab a broom which stood propped against the counter. Her face reddened and she clutched the item in front of her as if it were a Mazoku-proof shield delivered to her straight from Seiruun.

"What are you looking at?" The dragon maiden growled at her very much unwanted guest who was currently surveying her from across the kitchen and sporting a displeased expression instead of the usual cheery one.

Ever since the two Mazoku had arrived in her house she had kept her guard up and advised Val to do the same. One could never tell how much of Zelas' story was true, besides it was obvious to Filia that The Greater Beast will eventually try to get rid of her. It was only the matter of time until the Maozku lord will heal her wounds and seek a way to strike the one who had wronged her. When it'll come to that she might not have the need to keep the barrier around Filia's cottage alive, as well as for the one who maintains it.

Xellos scratched his head and scanned her from head to toe once again. "Where's your mace?"

"What?" She blinked in confusion. The question caught her out of guard.

"Your mace. You always swung it at me when you got angry; you even started a mace selling business. But it's been a few days and I haven't seen it anywhere." He paused to wipe his bloody face with a nearby piece of crochet.

"Ew! Stop that! It's my favourite!" Filia let go of the broom and sprang at him to wrestle the little ornament from his grasp. Her efforts to reclaim it were futile as he just kept effortlessly rubbing his wounds against the little cloth while the dragoness tried to rip it out of his hand.

"Come to think of it… there's no tail too. There should be at least one tail as far as I can recall. How odd." He commented absentmindedly. "Your self-control obviously haven't improved this much over 200 years, so, mind telling me what's going on?"

Filia flushed even redder upon hearing this question. "What do you mean by ' _your self control haven't improved'_?! I might have lost my mace but you're unable to see my tail because you don't deserve to! You filthy scum!" She pulled on the crochet that he was still holding with all her might and the soft threads gave under the immense strain which caused it to rip in half, and made her fall back on her rear. "M-My coaster… " Was all that she's managed to choke out before tears swelled up in her eyes and started streaming down her rosy cheeks.

Xellos on the other hand couldn't (and did not want to) stop himself from laughing. It had taken a solid few minutes for him to catch his breath and continue their parody of a conversation. "Serves you right!" He giggled. "Besides, you weren't so opposed to me seeing much more than your tail last time we met."

"You!" Filia growled. "How dare you bring this up-" She didn't get to finish because of Beastmaster, who choose this moment to appear next to her.

"I'd like to hear about this." Zelas smiled at them and the other Mazoku's mirth quickly dissipated.

Seeing his smile drop and his shoulders stiffen, in turn brightened Filia's own spoiled mood. Finally there was someone here who could wipe that moronic expression off from his face and shut that gross mouth of his! Now she felt the corners of her own lips lift upwards. But it was a short lived victory because The Greater Beast had then pointed at her.

"You start." Said Zelas and kept staring at the dragoness expectantly with a mischievous gleam in her red eyes while Xellos clearly had a problem with wanting to enjoy Filia's humiliation and having to experience it himself.

Thankfully they were interrupted by Val, who appeared in the house, with a smile on his face, a linen bag full of groceries in one hand and a bucket of water in other. He stood there for a moment taking in the sight in front of him and his expression changed into frown.

"Úlita? Why are you sitting on the floor?" He tilted his head to the side in confusion and kept looking from the broom to the dragoness and back. "Are you guys fighting?"

"Valtýr! How many times I have told you to not jump into the house like some kind of a Mazoku! We have a doo-" Again she was interrupted by Zelas who seemed to have some nasty idea on her mind.

The Mazoku lord grinned. "We're dusting off some old memories. I think you should hear this one." She drawled and the dragon maiden turned several shades paler. "They've done some forbidden things back in the day."

Val set the bag with groceries on the counter and then walked over to the fireplace and planted the bucket next to it. "You mean they had sex." He said without any shame or disgust for which Zelas was hoping.

"What? You know?" Now it was Beastmaster's turn to frown.

Xellos looked from the younger dragon to Filia and made a face. "You told him?"

The dragoness hid her face in her hands and shrieked in frustration.

"No! No!" Val protested as he turned fully to face them. "I mean, It's pretty obvious right? After… " He saw Filia's eye flash dangerously at his from between her fingers. "After, you know! How they talk to each other… and interact in general." He struggled with his words and now both Mazoku were looking at him funny. "It's so… erotic and all!" He laughed awkwardly.

" _Erotic_ … " Zelas repeated Val's words and looked at her priest in disgust. "...I've had enough." She growled and disappeared from the kitchen, feeling both disappointed and dismayed. Filia followed habit, she pulled herself up and left with her fists flexing at her sides.

"Don't follow me." She hissed and strode out, leaving Val and Xellos alone together.

The Mazokut sat in silence, with his eyes closed for a few minutes while the dragon busied himself with picking up the carelessly discarded broom from the floor and placing it in the corner.

"You know… I liked you better when you wanted to kill me." Xellos said as a few drops of his black blood slowly fell down from his face and hand. Upon hearing those words the other man turned to face him and offered him a forced a smile.

"T-Thank you." Val replied, unsure how to react to such comment.

The priest opened both of his eyes and looked at him miserably. "I… You're welcome… " He tried to say more but his seemingly clever mind failed him with delivering a coherent reply.

Val nodded at him in unison, trying to think of something to get rid of this incredibly heavy atmosphere but the Mazoku had spared him the trouble.

Xellos blinked a few times. "I'll just… go." He said and then vanished, leaving behind an ink stained spot on the floor in front of the chair he was sitting on.

The dragon remained silent. He only hoped that he didn't start anything serious with their guests.

#####

On the Northern Pole the winds slowly started picking up speed and sending waves of loose snow into the air, blending the landscape into a grey canvas. A lone figure clad in black appeared in the middle of the skyless expanse.

The man who called himself Grimnir seemed to be unperturbed by the hostile weather as he stood quietly in place. He drew his sword from its sheath by his side and outstretched his hand to drop it but when he did so the weapon did not hit the snow at his feet and hovered horizontally above it instead. The blade vibrated for a while and then made a slight turn and pointed to the left.

"I see." Grimnir said to no one in particular and the sword returned to his hand at once. He put it back in its place at his hip and disappeared.

After a few seconds he showed up in front of a large fortress carved into a mountainside. The northern lights were dancing above the jagged peaks making it look like it was a great tomb, silent and dead, submerged deep in the dark waters above which a scarce green light were hitting the surface. But he knew better, for here stood a great stronghold of the Mazoku lord of the north, Dynast Grausherra and it held all of his host within its cold, stony walls.

The man in black halted a few yards in front of the large, ornate gates. He could sense the barrier that had been placed around the dwelling by it's master and he tilted his head obscured by a black helmet from the one side to another. Like a confused animal that tried to process the sight in front of it by changing its angle of perception.

"You shall not enter this place!" Called a female voice from a high window that was hacked above the heavy gates.

Grimnir looked up at her and by means unknown to all but himself, he could perceive through the smooth walls of his fully opaque headgear that she had short dark hair that appeared to be mostly untended and which stuck out from her head as if she had not bothered to brush them for a few days. She clenched a mid-sized wooden staff covered entirely in ice with her right hand.

"Do you take bets?" His deformed voice resounded in the air between them, loud and clear.

She snorted. "Bets? You don't have anything worth betting for."

"Oh really? How about, in case if I fail to find a way to enter your fortress, I will pledge my loyalty to your master?" Grimnir said. He did not move from his spot and proceeded to stand tall in front of the gates and observe the person above him.

Her pale green eyes widened at his proposal. Dynast will be very pleased with her when she'll bring him a powerful thrall to do his bidding, but… "What if you win?"

"You will pledge your loyalty to me." He replied calmly.

The Mazoku barked with laughter. To her, it seemed impossible for something like this to happen, comical even. But the truth was, this dark creature had somehow destroyed the two most powerful lords of the Monster Race and she didn't know if agreeing to this bet would be a wise idea. He was the very reason for the barrier around the mountains to be erected so meticulously by Dynast himself.

"You're mistaken if you think that I will be playing games with you." She hissed at the dark figure lurking at the base of the mountain.

"So you see it as a game?" Asked the faceless man, his horrible voice becoming more menacing. "Very well."

She found his response immensely disturbing. He acted like he were some sort of a greater power than those he's been dealing with over the course of the past few days. It felt wrong to her that a single being without a face had the audacity to challenge not only her but the entire Mazoku race by taking down the most important figures in their hierarchy. No matter how much they craved chaos, without the great masters to lead them their forces would be swept from every plane of existence, were they to be attacked.

"Betting _is_ a form of a game." The Mazoku decided to not prolong their conversation. "And _I_ am not going to stand here and waste my time on you when I know that you cannot enter this place. Duties are calling, but you're free to stand there and freeze." She turned to leave but her steps were halted by their enemy's words.

"You will regret not taking this bet." He informed her with a dangerously heavy voice which made her skin crawl. "But I'm willing to give you a second chance. Take some time to think it over, and when I'll return you will give me your answer, Garu Grausherra."

Grimnir drew his sword and dropped it the same fashion as he did before and just like that time it hovered above the snow at his feet. It's point was directed towards the gates and it swayed mildly in the air like a long, black compass needle. "Mind the blade." He whispered and then vanished, leaving the Mazoku to brood at his words.

Garu turned around to gaze through the window once more.

"I don't remember telling you my name." She murmured into the empty space while her eyes focused on the black sword. It turned slightly as if its tip was following a hidden target. The action was puzzling her for a moment before a realization dawned upon her. It was pointing at Dynast and most likely biding its time to call for its master and strike, all the while it kept guarding their gates.

Garu cussed under her breath and jumped spaces within the stronghold to report to her lord. A great wave of uneasiness struck her at the thought of being besieged by that mysterious weapon and she had found herself unable to get rid of it, but no matter how weird and creepy the situation seemed to be, now that they were warned of what was coming, they surely would come up with a plan to get rid of this menace. After all, getting rid of things is what Mazoku excel at, is it not?


	4. Secrets

The end of this chapter contains some graphic stuff so be warned. Grimnir is a pretty brutal character so expect something like this when he shows up.

chapter word count: 9k

* * *

" **Yegev argn."**

 _(You are safe.)_

" **Æ nari hvit barag marnav."**

 _(You have nothing to fear.)_

" **Urquina Onram fer yege æ gorth."**

 _(The Sword of Truth will never hurt you.)_

" **Æ yege."**

 _(Not you.)_

" **Iriq yeg ot."**

 _(I promise.)_

Val awoke with a startled gasp. He sat up on his bed, his wide eyes scanned the white sheets that got tangled around his knees while he trashed in his bed; for a moment his shoulders had slumped and he allowed himself to fall back on the mattress with a heavy sigh escaping his lips. He was worrying too much lately and the nervous atmosphere in the house had started to reflect on his dreams. That particular set of words was a fragment of a memory that still caused a wave of distress wash over him every time they crossed his mind, and so they were the ones that his consciousness had latched onto when the thoughts of the black blade had come haunt him again.

It was a special kind of weapon because it belonged to a special kind of being, who was also a very special kind of person to Val. It was complicated, and the current situation worsened his anxiety significantly. He was aware, of course, that their position at hand had turned out to be as convoluted as it was because of him agreeing to give Zelas and her underling a room to stay, but it really seemed like the best idea at the time. Besides, it's not like they're here permanently. Sooner or later the Hanged Manwould come for them, Val just had a hard time deciding if he would aid the Mazoku or hand them over.

Which was another reason why he wanted them here. Information and-

The young dragon didn't get to brood about his dreams and goals for long because a cheerful voice from the side of his bed had effortlessly pulled him out of his dark thoughts.

"What's a _Urquina Onram?_ " Xellos asked with his head tilted curiously to the side. He was levitating closer to Val's head, with his legs crossed and his staff resting on his lap.

"What's what?" Val completely disregarded the fact that he was being watched while he slept, without his consent, by one of the most dangerous monsters in existence and pretended to not understand what the priest was talking about.

"You were talking in your sleep." The Mazoku explained. "Most of it sounded like gibberish but you repeated this particular phrase a few times. You sounded troubled."

"What are you doing in my room, Smaller Beast?" The dragon asked with a hint of exasperation in his voice. He rubbed his eyes and turned to face the intruder whose expression changed from pleased to troubled. Clearly the somewhat ridiculous nickname had left upon him an impression that wasn't exactly positive.

Xellos's lip twitched. "I heard your whining from the room across and I thought that maybe you needed help, but obviously I have been wrong." He turned away pretending to be offended but when he received no reply from Val he peered from under his wounded eyelid at the dragon. During the few days that he and his master spent in Filia's house he tried to get to know Val, (or Valtýr, as seemed to be his full name in this life) better but he couldn't quite get a grasp on the last Ancient dragon's personality.

Val mostly seemed to try to relieve Filia of stress and prevent conflict from escalating to dangerous levels, and he appeared to be surprisingly good at it, however, to Xellos it looked like there was something more to him that the young dragon tried to hide. There was a great amount of anxiety and uncertainty plaguing him and it would be easy to write it down simply as a negative reaction to a presence of the two powerful Mazoku in very close proximity if it wasn't for the strange longing that he radiated nearly all the time. Like he was missing something but were also afraid of it for some reason.

This behavior managed to unnerve the Beastmaster enough to order her priest to try to take a better look at Val. Fortunately for Xellos, poking around Val's private matters was also a part of his personal agenda that he would follow unless specifically ordered against it. Like during that time, for example, when he was ordered to stay away from Filia after he got back from the battle with Darkstar. He was also ordered to never contact her and not seek information about her from anyone, ever. He had a shadow of an idea as to why such orders had been implemented but since he wasn't allowed to even talk about her there was no way for him to ask even his master if he's right.

Had they not been attacked he would probably still be forced to keep away from her at all cost. A stupid idea of silently thanking Grimnir for presenting him with an occasion to go back to Filia went through his mind but he quickly brushed it off. How ridiculous! A Mazoku such as himself should not pine after dragons, or anyone for that matter!

He shook his head vigorously. The very thought of Filia was distracting him from an important task at hand, which was of course, getting friendly with her foster son. Maybe if he wasn't forbidden from meeting her they would see each other often enough for Val to consider him to be his father figure?

The priest opened both of his eyes and looked down at Val who was still laying on the bed and staring right back at him.

"What?" The dragon asked as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

Xellos blinked at him. "What's _Urquina Onram_?" He repeated his previous question just because he momentarily ran out of things to say. Curse his weird obsession with Filia and everything that revolves around her!

"I don't know." Val replied and stubbornly crossed his arms in front of his chest signaling that he has no intention of sharing his knowledge about the matter.

"Ooohhh… Alright! So, it is something important enough that you don't want me to know, which means that it has something to do with great power that could be manipulated into causing the dragons a lot of trouble… ?" The Mazoku mused aloud with a note of very obvious uncertainty marking his last word. He hoped that Val would hastily correct him and accidentally ramble out some clues about whatever _Urquina Onram_ could be.

Unfortunately for the priest, this strategy didn't work and it made the dragon laugh instead. When the unsettling rumble of Val's slowly dying chuckle finally subsided the dragon's expression changed into that of cunning and amusement.

"How about we strike a deal?" He asked with a note of self-satisfaction.

Xellos didn't like when this was going. It was usually him who played others, not the other way around and he had no intentions of changing that dynamic. But his curiosity and childish faith in his own wit had won over logic and intuition, and so he agreed to hear out Val's proposal with hope of finding a loophole in it and exploring it for his own gain.

The young dragon flashed him a wide, joyous grin while his arms still laid crossed over his chest. "I'll tell you everything I could possibly know of this _Urquina Onram,_ on one condition."

So, he know what that is, after all! The Mazoku's lips tightened and he only responded to Val's statement with a strained smile stretched across his wounded face.

"Which is?" He asked impatiently.

"You will fall in love." Van uncrossed his arms and this time he laced his fingers together on top of his abdomen. "With another person."

"Excuse me?!" Xellos's shoulders hunched down as he scrutinised the dragon in disbelief and mild annoyance. Now he was just being subjected to a very distasteful joke. "Don't you know that Mazoku can't feel that way? It's impossible, and disgusting! _And_ it's cheating."

"No, it's not. I think you could do it if you wanted to." The young dragon sat up and turned to fully face a disgruntled priest.

"I would appreciate if you ceased to project your odd desires onto me." Xellos replied coldly. The very thought of love had stirred something within him that should not be there in the first place and which he wanted to destroy with almost every fiber of his being, as a Mazoku such as himself ought to do.

His words however, seemed to have hit Val in a sour spot, for his features had darkened and he suddenly started to radiate an aura of anger and hurt. It was then, that Xellos saw a long, midnight-dark tail slowly writhe around them. It was definitely longer than Filia's and had a cluster of spikes adorning it's tip.

They stared each other in the eyes for several moments and just as the tension in the room began to reach its peak a great roar tore through the silence and made them both look in the direction it had come from. Then the earth shook with such force that the furnitures were moved from their places leaving marks on the wooden floor and the dust that resided between the panels of the ceiling fell upon them in waves.

"It came from the city… " Val whispered in bewilderment when the ruckus had subsided. He leapt up from his bed and ran downstairs to Filia while Xellos jumped spaces and appeared in front of his master.

He was kneeling, as always when facing his lord and creator but there was a small, quiet voice in the back of his consciousness that rebelled against doing so. Why does he always have to fall to his knees every time they speak? Why must he cower like some slave?

He trampled that sparkle of defiance the second it blazed through his mind. Stupid! It's not the time to doubt his loyalty to Zelas!

Xellos waited patiently at the feet of Beastmaster to hear the orders that she would without a doubt place upon him. He knew with the moment in which the the cottage was shaken by the force that was undoubtedly a shockwave from a massive explosion that she'll be wanting to see him immediately.

Now the look on her face was contemplative as she kept her head turned towards the window. She did not even spare a glance to look down at him.

"Did they say something?" She finally asked.

"Val said that the nearby city was the source of that unusual phenomenon, an explosion I guess." He answered but did not stand up just yet, waiting patiently for the orders to go scouting around the settlement. To his confusion no such words had fallen from the lips of Beastmaster. She looked down at him after a few more moments of gathering her thoughts.

"Don't go there. Don't show yourself in that place no matter what." She said with a note of finality marking her words.

The command caught Xellos off guard and he opened his eyes to look up at the Mazoku in front of him. He did not try to conceal his surprise regarding her decision but he also knew that she won't leave him in the dark about the reasons behind it.

"That explosion will draw some unwanted attention, if it already didn't. We can't risk having you recognized by someone, no matter if they're a Mazoku, Dragon or Human, or whatever else. You must keep yourself from appearing this close to Filia's cottage. If you had recognized her signature when you got close enough, then someone else could do it too." She said as she stepped away from him and settled back on the bed. "Let the dragons handle this. I'm sure that Filia of yours will not sit quietly when a nearby city just got blown up." Zelas smirked at the thought. It seemed that she had her mind set on something but whatever it was, she's unlikely to tell.

"I could take a look from the Astral Plane-" Xellos tried to reason but he was cut off before he had a chance to lay out his own plans.

"You can't. You are to keep yourself hidden in both dimensions. No matter what." Zelas glared at him while he proceeded to stand up; staff in hand and head bowed.

He really wanted to go and explore. But Xellos wasn't stupid, he understood very well his masters concerns and did not dare to question her anymore. The thing was, sitting in dragon's cottage and doing pretty much nothing while an unknown creature clad in black was actively trying to destroy them caused him to slightly malfunction. Up until now he was the one who kept tabs on his targets and brought them down as ordered. He just wasn't used to being hunted, besides, having to stay bound to one place for a longer period of time without being able to walk the streets of human settlements and look out for some potential sorcerers to harass was getting him incredibly bored.

There was only so much time a Mazoku such as himself could spend pissing off Filia before she cast an ancient purification spell on them. It was so unpleasant, really.

He felt himself smirk stupidly at the floor before Beastmaster ordered him to go downstairs and see what the dragons are up to, but before he left to do her bidding he remembered his conversation with Val.

"There's one more thing… if I may?" He ducked his head when Zelas had narrowed her eyes at him while making herself comfortable on the bed.

"What is it?" She growled impatiently; it was clear that she wanted him gone already. Ever since she's been confined to her physical body, her tolerance for having him around had significantly shortened. Xellos supposed that was because of the wounds she sustained during the battle with Grimnir. She would not take care of them while anyone watched, and they were, without a doubt, giving her some trouble right now.

"Do you know of anything called _Urquina Onram_?" He asked in hopes that his master would know the answer to his question regarding the meaning of these two words.

The Mazoku lord pondered over them for a short while before shaking her head. "No. I don't recall hearing nor reading about anything like that. Why do you ask?"

"Oh it's nothing! The Ancient Dragon kept repeating them as he slept. He seemed to be quite shaken so I thought that it might be something of importance." Xellos shrugged. Perhaps the dragon was telling the truth and _Urquina Onram_ really was just a part of some bad childhood experience, like a name of a bully, or some food which he wasn't fond of but was forced to eat in the name of healthy lifestyle. He honestly wouldn't be surprised if the latter was the case. Filia definitely would come up with something stupid to torture Val into a perfect example of clean and obedient child who follows their parents instructions and loves to pray.

That thought made him feel something funny, almost like pity. But of course it couldn't be, simply because he was a Mazoku and that in itself meant that he's unable to process such emotion.

"It may be nothing, or may be not." The Beastmaster mused aloud. "Find out what this _Urquina Onram_ is when you'll have an occasion. Perhaps the information will come in handy. Now, go down to Filia and learn what you can about the situation in the city." She waved her hand dismissively in front of herself signaling to him that she was done speaking.

The priest didn't need to be told off for the third time. He jumped spaces from his master's room straight into the kitchen and appeared right behind Filia's back, as he's grown fond of doing during these past several days.

Her response was immediate. She spun around and hurtled her fist right at his head. But he was faster and before her knuckled managed to connect with his jaw, the Mazoku disappeared just to reappear sitting in the chair that stood by the table. He watched the dragoness stumble forward and fall onto her knees in front of him.

"Oh Filia. I thought that the day in which you will pay your long overdue respects to me would never come." Xellos placed his gloved hand on his chest mockingly and faking a shocked expression.

"You wish!" The dragon maiden growled as she slipped one of her shoes off of her leg and threw it at him. Sadly, all Xellos had to do was move his head a little to the right in order to avoid being hit.

"A shoe? That's a new one." He commented while Filia scrambled to her feet. She didn't seem keen on exchanging harsh words with him this time however, because she crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned away from him to look out of the window. Just as his master did before.

It was obvious that the explosion was plaguing her thoughts and he wasn't interested in changing that at the moment. Quite the contrary.

"Aren't you going to stick your nose out there and search for any casualties whose lives you could worsen by stomping around and yelling at people for daring to bleed?" He waggled his finger at her back.

"I'm not-!" She turned back to face him, palms clenched into fists at her sides, but her words died on her tongue when she noticed him crack his scarred eye open. The sight of his mocking smile made her straighten up and resume her previous position. "Val went to investigate."

"Alone?" Xellos did not bother to hide his surprise. "And you let him go there all by himself?"

Now that was unexpected. He would bet that Filia would not let Val come anywhere near such a dangerous place and stay behind, herself. No matter if he was a dragon or not snooping around a potential warzone did could bode well for him.

"Of course! He's an adult. He can take care of himself." She stated with startling confidence.

"This is a surprisingly un-parent-y thing for you to say." He admitted. "Why didn't you go with him though? Don't you think he would need help with combing the area?"

Come to think of it, during the entire week in which they were making themselves comfortable in one of her rooms Filia had scarcely left the house, and when she did, she had not even set a foot outside of the barrier that she placed around it. Up until now he had simply brushed it off as her being suspicious of Zelas and himself and not wanting to leave the cottage unsupervised with them in it, but now, it started to seem a little odd.

Very possibly a bunch of explosives had been detonated in a nearby city and yet she remained uncharacteristically distanced from it. The Filia that he knew would jump right into the ruins and misery of still burning streets to bring salvation to the orphans and the injured, but now, she was somehow defying that perception. In a way, it seemed almost… unnatural.

"What are _you_ still doing here? Had Zelas not ordered you to learn as much as you can about this mess?" She suddenly asked him without answering his own question while she was still facing the window. The sight wasn't directed towards the city, but even if it was, they were too far away to see anything significant and the woods blocked the view from all sides anyway.

"No. Too much noise attracts too much attention and as you know, we're supposed to be hiding. It would be very unfortunate if someone had spotted me rummaging through piles of flaming debris." Xellos had answered with a tinge of annoyance in his voice. "So? Why did you stay behind?" He repeated his previous question not at all intending to let it go. She really did teach Val all the ways one could annoy the hell out of a Mazoku, didn't she?

Filia stood there for a moment without speaking or looking back at him, which again reminded him of his master in a way. It wasn't a pleasant comparison at all so he decided to close the distance between them and repeat his question once more but in a little more provoking manner. Getting on her nerves always seemed to work in his favor but before he managed to get close enough she slowly turned around.

"I have an aversion to fire." She deadpanned.

Xellos stopped dead in his track and almost dropped his staff. For a second he thought that he'd hear her wrong. "Since when?! I remember you burning an entire city, not very different from the neighbouring one!"

'T-that! Was a long time ago!" She went red in the face and put her hands on her hips defiantly.

"There's a fire burning in the hearth!? Right now? And you seem to be doing fine?" He gestured with his staff at the blazing fireplace and then at her.

"It's because it is a _small_ fire!" Filia stomped her leg. "There's a difference!"

He was genuinely taken aback by the stupidity of her excuse. First Val was being ridiculous and now Filia was acting far weirder than she usually does. Those dragons were definitely hiding something important and he needed to find out what it was ASAP. He didn't like the feeling of being left out of something important enough to keep Filia away from a burning city full of suffering people in need of a rescue. He could feel the misery spilling from that place like a river breaking through a dam.

There already was an idea forming in his mind that would definitely make her talk but before he managed to implement it a severely disheveled Val appeared between them. He was covered in soot from head to toe and smelled strongly of burnt wood. A frown was skewing his face and he took a deep breath before addressing Filia.

"Not good." He said grimly, completely disregarding Xellos's presence. "At least two thirds of the city were swept off the face of the world by that explosion, the rest got leveled by the shockwave. There are some survivors who are already grouping together."

The dragoness sighed and looked up at Val. They should have moved out of this place a long time ago anyway but her sentiments had rooted her to this cottage. She reached to Val's messy hair and brushed some ash out of them.

"How fast do you think they're going to get help from the other cities and villages?" She asked while coming to terms with an unsettling feeling that there was not much they can do at that point to aid anyone out there anyway. Humans are bound by their unstable nature to wage wars against each other and that always involved a number of innocent people getting injured or killed. It's better to leave them at that. She's learned it the hard way.

"You're actually going to ignore it? Intriguing… " The Mazoku chirped in with a somewhat honest note of astonishment coloring his voice. He took a few steps closer towards Filia and bent down a little pretending to get a better look at her from behind his closed eyelids. "Are you really the same Filia that I came to know two hundred and fourteen years ago?"

She took a step away from the annoying priest and attempted to rein her growing anger. "People change and I've had plenty of time to grow into a more poised person, but of course this concept is incomprehensible to a Mazoku such as yourself." The dragoness stated matter-of-factly.

"Keep deluding yourself." He huffed in irritation. "Besides, you're a dragon, not a person. You're not capable of self-growth." Xellos smirked at her in the most condescending manner he could muster. It seemed to break Filia's attempt at stoicism because her face once again had reddened and she seemed more than ready to continue an over two hundred years old brawl.

"Úlita… " Val's voice broke through their argument and brought her attention back to him. " _Nare an tav._ (There's something else.)" He added in draconish and once again Xellos's presence were completely disregarded in favor of other details that the young dragon had spotted, which apparently wasn't meant for the priest to know.

Oh how he hated this language barrier that left him feeling left out and even kind of dumb. He was actually feeling quite self conscious about having too big of an ego to learn something as lowly as a dragon language. Now it was backfiring at him once again, just as it did in that stupid dragon-made vehicle that looked like someone piled up a great amount of dirt and put a few shitty houses on it. He also remembered that it was kind of fun to watch it bulldoze through a small town and wreck a part of a dragon temple. But in the end he had to hide from a horde of angry gold lizards and his chances at overhearing anything that was going on inside of the temple had pummeled down to zero thanks to them putting up wards and having their guards run all over the place while Lina Inverse and her little freak band worked to put the ruined parts back together.

He watched as the dragons kept exchanging sentences of tongue twisting gibberish between each other right under his nose while he stood there unable to comprehend a single word that was being said.

"It's rude to keep excluding someone from an important conversation." He said and leaned on his staff. The scoffs on their faces told him that they didn't appreciate being interrupted.

Good.

Before Filia managed to snap back at him Val put his hand on her shoulder and then turned around to address the Mazoku. The serious expression that he was sporting seemed a little at odds with how Xellos had observed him to hebave every day since they've met. This rigid posture belonged more to the Mazoku known as Valgarv before he's been devoured by Darkstar and then promptly annihilated by Lina Inverse and her bunch of weirdos, Xellos and Filia included. Yet there was something that was distinctively different about him than his previous Mazoku self. The priest just couldn't put his finger on it at the moment. Maybe it was the hair?

"You can tell your master that there's no need to worry. It's just the humans playing with explosives and then suffering the consequences. That's all you need to know." This statement was so cold that even Filia had winced behind Val's back when she heard him say it. He spoke with such authority that it might have had an effect on the lesser Mazoku, not to mention that he was a head taller than Xellos, which added to his commanding aura.

The priest however, was unperturbed by this sudden display of arrogance. He opened his eyes and looked directly into Val's; his scars making him appear even more menacing than he usually does when he's serious. "I don't take orders from you." He spoke with a soft, hushed voice that caused the temperature around them drop by a few degrees. "I want to know exactly what had happened to that city. Do keep in mind that I _AM_ a Mazoku, I will get it out of you if you keep being difficult." His gaze then travelled to Filia, who shoved Val to the side and stomped in front of an agitated priest.

"If you as much as try to do _anything_ to him I SWEAR I'm going to make you regret even thinking about coming here!" She shrieked at him and waggled her finger dangerously close to his face.

Xellos remained unperturbed by her threats and instead of moving away from the finger pointing straight at the tip of his nose, he grabbed it with one swift motion, deciding on keeping it hostage.

"Who said that I'm going to do anything to Val?" He asked an angry dragoness who now had her finger stuck in his unrelenting grip. It was quite amusing to watch her try to free herself while Val stood frozen to the spot and unsure of what to do.

"I'm going to bite your hand off!" She grunted and placed her foot on top of his chest for leverage. "VAL! BITE HIS HAND OFF!" Filia then shouted at the startled young dragon who made a few bewildered noises while turning from her to the Mazoku.

"Ah-ah-ah! Don't pull too hard or you'll break your finger." Xellos smiled at her as if they were merely conversing about the differences in the designs of Filia's vase collection.

"Let me go!" She shouted in anger while trying to twist her finger out when the pulling strategy had failed her.

"Tell me what you know and you'll be free." He responded nonchalantly.

Val contemplated going about this by the old dragon way of spitting a current of fire at the priest but the concept of setting the cottage ablaze made him quickly discard that idea.

"These explosives were dropped from the sky! One of them failed to detonate!" She finally yielded the information and Xellos had immediately released her finger, causing her to fall on her backside.

"Dropped you say?" He tapped his chin with his forefinger. "Not fired off from somewhere?"

Fillia huffed and straightened herself up. She looked at Val and then turned her gaze back to Xellos. "People had been saying that they heard some loud buzzing noise and then they saw something sweep across the sky and drop the bombs at them."

Now it was the priest's turn to look at the young dragon. "Something loud and buzzing had swept across the sky?" He repeated the words at Val who had crossed his arms and scowled down at him. "Are you sure it wasn't a dragon?"

"We're not bees!" Filia shouted.

"Almost everyone whom I happened to stumble upon repeated the same story." Val gave a small nod of confirmation.

"And there is another bomb, with possibly the same amount of power that the detonated one, laying around somewhere in the debris?" Xellos asked with a disturbing amount of curiosity in his voice. It was painfully obvious that he wanted to put his hands on it before someone else had a chance to snatch it and maybe even use it to his disadvantage. If what Val had said about the destruction it caused was true, then a bomb like that held at least the power of one supercharged _Dragon Slave_. Such weapon could be very useful to him and his master right now.

Suddenly, a loud roar of an explosion came from the city again, and the ground shook under the wooden cottage in a similar fashion to the time when the first bomb had been detonated. The plates and cups rattled in the cabinets, and the table along with the chars had moved a few centimeters in different directions.

Obviously, to Xellos's disappointment and the dragons horror, the second bomb had went off. He could feel the sudden mass of panic and despair raise even higher from the city short before everything went silent for good.

"Uh-oh… How was that city called again?" He tried to dissolve a little of the tension that had bees swirling around in the air but the dragos ignored him and ran out of the cottage to look towards the obliterated human settlement.

With no warning Zelas had appeared next to him and grabbed him by the collar.

"What was that!?" She growled with an uncharacteristic for her panic stricken expression.

"T-there were two bombs. Apparently one of them did not detonate until now." He explained and her grip slowly loosened as he kept debriefing his master about the young dragon's findings.

By the time Filia and Val had returned to the cottage Zelas had removed her hold on her subordinate completely and now sat by the table and kept chewing on a piece of bread topped with seasoned pork fat that the dragoness made last evening.

The dragon maiden radiated despair in such quantities that made Xellos a little dizzy but Val was surprisingly more removed from the doom that had befallen the nearby city. He seemed to be mostly perplexed by the idea that their human neighbors had perished so suddenly. There was also something else about them that the Mazoku could not specify, however it was harder to notice it in Fillia because of sheer amount of misery she was currently experiencing. He had concluded that the prospect of no survivors had pained her more than knowing that those who could have escaped would live with severe trauma of seeing their friends and loved ones perish in a blast of flames and rubble. But Xellos had found that thought comforting, because it was a very Filia-like thing about this a little less Filia-like person she seemed to be lately.

Then the choke of depression had shifted into something that was even more distinctive about her, for as she strode into the kitchen with Val at her heels, a sudden wave of wrath had burst out of her like a sharp gust of wind.

She stopped by the iron kettle that stood on the counter, grabbed it roughly and hurtled it at the hearth with such strength that it ended up embedded in the brick wall behind it. Before she managed to continue taking her anger out on anything else, Val had placed his palms on her shoulders and kept her grounded in place as her body shook with an abundance of emotions even Zelas could not fully distinguish from each other.

"Breathe Úlita." The young dragon said gently. "Focus on me."

For a brief moment Xellos thought about butting in but one sharp look from Beastmaster had told him that he was not allowed to intervene. He suspected that his master had noticed something in Filia and now was looking for any signs of confirmation to whatever theory was blooming in her mind.

Both monsters remained quiet while the dragoness was slowly calming down. The entire cottage was silent except for Filia's short breaths; the warm noon sunlight fell through the windows and kept illuminating little specks of dust that were swirling around aimlessly. Zelas's large body remained hunched by the table, propped by her remaining hand that was placed on it. Xellos quietly stood next to her and waited, either for orders from his master or for Filia to finally turn into a dragon, destroy the cottage and burn down the forest around it as was typical for her, in his humble opinion.

But in the end her shoulders had sagged and she had pressed her forehead against Val's chest.

"I think that in this situation both of us could use some good candy. Don't you think so, Val?" She whispered and her voice that was muffled by his shirt could barely be heard despite the silence that hung around them.

The young dragon only patted her on the head. "I do, but if I am to go to the candy shop, I think I will need to get dressed accordingly." He replied in a disturbingly carefree tone of voice. "It's quite far away… "

Filia had straightened up and only then both dragons seemed to remember that they were being watched by a pair of Mazoku.

"Strange of you, to crave sweets at a time like this." The Greater Beast commented and locked eyes with Filia.

"Bitter times can be made bearable with a little bit of sugar. There's nothing we can do about the city right now, better to take care of ourselves until the fire dies down." The dragoness turned to Val and glanced at him before directing her attention to the row of drawers under the window.

The other dragon had taken it as a cue to leave and prepare himself for the journey to the candy shop that was apparently nowhere near the city that had been reduced to a pile of ash along with its residents mere minutes ago. He turned on his heels and almost ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs into his room.

Meanwhile Xellos had highly suspected that this candy shop that everybody had been talking about wasn't exactly what the name suggested it to be. Of course he felt pressured to investigate even without Zelas ordering him to do so. The word 'far away' meant that he could finally get out and have some work to do instead of hiding in a dragon den with Beastmaster breathing down his neck. He did not even need to ask for permission to tail after Val, for his master had looked at him with a silent command burning in her fiery gaze.

Zelas got up from her chair and turned towards the exit. "I'll leave you to your candy." She threw her words in the air without looking at Filia, who was still rummaging through the drawers and then shot Xellos one, last glance through her shoulder before going back to her own room.

"What are you looking for?" He placed his staff in a corner and made his way towards the dragoness before squatting next to her.

"Not your business." She grunted as her fingers sorted through various little pouches of different sizes and colors. They had labels with draconish runes tied to them on strings. A few got tangled together and Filia made an effort to loosen the knot that started to form. "Aren't you supposed to run after your master like an obedient servant that you make yourself out to be? She asked without taking her eyes off of the knot.

He shuffled closer. "How about I'll help you with that? Knowing your temper those little pockets of… whatever it is that you put in there… are going to end up torn apart and scrambled around the floor." Xellos extended his hand and offered her a mocking smile.

Filia pulled the pouches closer to her chest in protest. She knitted her brow in anger and glared at him for a moment but otherwise remained silent, which was pretty disconcerting given how she ought to react to his comments regarding her temper. "No… " She said at length. "Don't touch this. Just, go away and do whatever it is that you're doing when you're not damning me with your presence."

"You think you can just banish me as if I were some kind of a pet?" He retorted, irked by her dismissive attitude and overall cryptic behaviour.

"Zelas seems to do it a lot." She replied, feigning indifference.

"Huh?" Now that did it! "You think that you can compare yourself to my master?" He opened his eyes and curled his lips into a malevolent smile. "Maybe we should put that to test, seeing as Beastmaster is only a few steps away? You really are forgetting who you are facing, don't you?" With every word he pressed closer to her, invading Filia's personal space until the tips of their noses nearly brushed against each other. His intense gaze was piercing her like a cold blade and the dark scars on his face made his appearance even more menacing, and yet she remained largely unmoved by his threats, which intrigued him even more.

The dragoness pursued her lips into a thin line but otherwise kept staring right back at him with nary a tinge of fear behind her steady glare. "I do know what you are. I have never forgotten about that." She finally replied. "But I'm not afraid of the likes of you." She added with such ferocity that it had taken him aback, but no matter how angry or defiant she acted there was always something that pulled him towards her. Even now despite a state of mild irritation Xellos could not help but inch a little closer in an impulsive attempt to get rid of the distance between them and claim her lips with his own.

Filia almost let him do it. _Almost_ being the key-word, for in that exact moment Val had come back from his room clad in silver tunic embellished with floral embroidery, dark blue, similarly adorned pants and a pair of ankle high, black boots. Most of his garb was hidden by a navy blue cloak finished at the edges with a simple pattern made of silver thread. He held a leather suitcase in his left hand.

She sensed him walk into the kitchen more than she saw him and as she tried to get away from Xellos, she had shoved the Mazoku off of her in panic. The sudden, violent move made them both land on their backsides across each other.

"I'm sorry!" Val brought his hands up defensively. "I didn't know you two were about to commit adultery!"

"I would do no such thing!" Filia protested vehemently and sprang to her feet while still holding a cluster of pouches tangled together by a number of tags.

Xellos looked at her skeptically. Her face was, of course, colored by all shades and red and her body was rigid head to toe as she stood and turned to glare from Val to him and vice versa.

"Whatever. I see you two are being busy so I'll leave you to your candy shopping. I don't need to waste my time on someone who so obviously does not need my help." He said with a half hearted bitterness in his voice as he disappeared.

Val walked closer to the draginess, put the suitcase on the floor and gently pried the pouches from Filia's hands. _"Oh Úlita, æ nari hvit ag enegeþ._ " (There's not need to get angry.) He swiftly detached the tags from each other and placed them on the counter.

" _Téreman Val. Ov iri aþam narn beri._ " (I'm sorry Val. He gets on my nerves.) She sighed loudly and turned to pick out a few more pouches which she the put next to the others.

" _Malvi ov._ " (You love him.) He took the suitcase and opened it on top of the table, then he started to pick the little sacks by their tags and pack them in the separate pockets of the case.

Filia handed him a bunch of vials. " _Æ mav. Ig dav aþam iri narn beri._ " (Doesn't matter. Pisses me off anyway.)

He took them and gently stashed them in the lower sections of the suitcase. "I can relate." He replied sourly in common tongue and carefully closed it.

A heavy silence hung between them while golden rays of sun made the silver thread in Val's cloak shimmer. Ubenknowst to them, Xellos stood by the window outside and listened to their conversation in hopes of catching any potentially useful information that they seemed hold off from him.

Filia suddenly slapped Val in the shoulder. "What are you waiting for?!" She asked with a certain amount of vigor revibrating through her words. "Go! You have a few jumps ahead before you'll get there. And do your best!" She wagged a finger in front of him in a mockery of a threat.

"Úlita… " He snorted and looked down at her. "I _am_ the best." Then he saluted playfully and disappeared from the cottage.

Xellos waited a few seconds and followed his signature. Val was not a Mazoku anymore and therefore could not jump through space at long distances which led him to breaking for a stop a few times. The priest had dully noted that it had taken the young dragon approximately an hour to arrive at his target city, and in the end he had found himself tailing Val through busy streets of Mirioll. One of the largest trade outposts of the western continent placed by the eastern shore of the Alvenda kingdom.

To Xellos's advantage, Val was so tall that he easily stood out in the crowd. He was definitely taller than he remembered the ancient dragon to be but it might have been due to the fact that when Garv had turned Val into a monster in his previous life, he had not been yet an adult, as his boyish features had suggested back then. Current Val was definitely a grown-up. It showed in every way, starting from his more refined physical appearance, through his control over his emotions and ending simply on the way he carried himself. This kind of calculated confidence does not radiate from people who wave yet some maturing to do.

The Mazoku noticed as his target slipped to the side and strode into a dark alley. He hastened his steps and followed right after the dragon. They kept walking through a maze of streets, each one more run down than the other. Just when Xellos started to wonder if Val is simply running around without direction because he had spotted the priest tracking his steps the dragon had turned a corner and disappeared from Mazoku's sight.

The priest trotted after him and tried to grasp the young dragon's signature but suddenly it felt like a veil had been placed over his target. Val was not entirely gone, but he seemed to have entered one of the buildings in the narrow valley. Xellos slowly walked in between the buildings, searching for a familiar presence but when he finally found it he'd stopped in front of the entrance and remained rooted to the spot.

A multitude of feelings he was not entirely unfamiliar with had radiated from the place he was currently surveying while a ridiculous amount of disbelief had washed over him like a sudden fall of heavy rain from a completely clear, sunny sky.

He brought his gloved fist over his frowning mouth and stared at the sign above a pair of fancy doors embedded into a narrow building made of red bricks, that sported a few rows of tall, wooden windows. All of them covered with a set of colorful curtain.

A sign made of bold, red letters hung above the entrance. _CANDY SHOP_ it said. But the place in front of him was as far from a candy shop as a needle was from a greatsword.

One thing about it was certain for sure. This was most definitely one of the fanciest brothels Xellos had ever laid his eyes upon.

#####

"Can I get uhhhh… a steak and uhhhh… a pint?" A young man in his mid-twenties with short blond hair and blue eyes looked uncertainty up at a waitress who gave him a strained smile and a nod as she wrote down his order.

She then turned to a person clad entirely in black who sat by the round table across him. It was evident that she found Grimnir's headgear disturbing but did not comment upon it. He was an important guest after all, he always rented the most expensive booth in the restaurant and there were rumors flying around that he was friends with the owners of the restaurant. She would have taken his order first, as was custom, but the blond had interrupted her before she could do so.

The man in black seemed not to mind and he only waved a hand at her dismissively and ordered a bottle of mead. There was another person with them, a male too. He appeared no older than 20, his eyes were grey and his wavy, shoulder length brown hair were clumsily tied into a small ponytail. Unlike his companions he did not sit down along with them but stood by the booth to keep watch on any potential eavesdroppers. He wore simple yet clean set of clothes consisting of dark brown linen shirt and black linen pants, along with a pair of considerably worn out leather shoes.

"Start speaking." Grimnir drawled as he lounged on the cozy seat that surrounded the round table from most sides.

"The tests were almost successful, my lord." Replied the blond man. He sounded incredibly satisfied with himself despite the way in which Grimnir's gloved fingers started drumming against the table. The black leather making a stark contrast against the snow white of the tablecloth. "The subjects were dropped on a secluded area and one had detonated upon impact. The other one however, had taken some time to go off. It was reported to me that it took about two hours for it to finally detonate. But the power of both explosions matched your predictions!" He reported excitedly. "It's possible that the shell was too thick or that the trigger was not sensitive enough. We will definitely have this fixed before our second round of tests… " There was a heavy pause and the blond man's smile waned a little.

"Go on." The dark figure across him prompted and stopped his fingers from making any more noise. "There's clearly something bothering you."

"Well… there had been an issue with the transport. There was a malfunction on board of the carrier so… the pilot had to drop the bombs within the range of the forbidden zone." The blond gulped. "But! The effects were spectacular! The entire city- nearly two leagues long and wide- was leveled in a blink of an eye!" He added with a little too much enthusiasm in his voice to not be considered hysterical.

In a flash Grimnir had moved across the table and grabbed the man's neck. He dragged the blond's face closer to the front of his mask. "You disobeyed my command." He whispered with a shadow of wrath lingering behind his words and they both disappeared from the booth much to their guard's surprise.

Within seconds they were hovering high above the face of the earth, so high in fact, that the man with blond hair could see the blue sky around transitioning into dark, starlit space. The air there was so cold that he could feel his body shake as it began rapidly cooling down and if it weren't for the iron grip that Grimnir had maintained on his neck, he would have been choking on the sparse amount of it.

"You would dare to go against your orders. The orders which _I_ gave you." Ground out the deformed voice from within the mask.

"W-we… hadnochoice… they wouldhave… deto.. et… onboard." The other man choked out while desperately clawing on Grimnir's black arm.

"Then it should have." He answered with gentleness one would show while playing with a child and then he unceremoniously released his hold on his subordinate's neck, and the man fell down with only a startled gasp escaping his lips.

Grimnir watched him fall. He estimated in the back of his mind where the body would hit the ground and when.

After a few seconds of idling in the stratopause he jumped spaces halfway the way down where the now screaming blond man only flashed next to him as he continued falling. The black clad figure waited a few seconds again and then disappeared once more only to show up on the rocky ground of some uninhabited mountainside. He stood there, with his hands behind his back and his hidden face turned up towards the sky, and when he saw the falling body he promptly removed himself from the spot and appeared behind the nearest rock formation.

He did not want his clothes to get stained with human blood too much.

The body of the blond man hit the ground with such force that it burst into bloody pieces upon impact, splattering liquids and fragments of bones within many meters around the place where it fell.

Grimnir walked towards it and then squatted next to the disfigured lump of human flesh. He rummaged within it for a short amount of time before jumping spaces back to the restaurant, where the other human still waited by his booth. His sudden appearance had startled the young man who had visibly flinched when Grimnir had addressed him.

"Your name?" The dark figure asked.

"Alexy." The human quickly straightened up and faced him while trying not to let his eyes wander in search of his blond companion.

"Do you like steak?"

The question was simple, and yet it gave Alexy all the answers to the wonders that were swirling in his head while he waited for the return of his colleague and the man in black. The blond from whom he took orders would not be coming back. "Yes sir."

"Good." Grimnir fished a sack of gold out from under his black cloak with one hand and handed it to Alexy. "The steak is yours now. Buy yourself better shoes." He said and the he pushed his other hand that kept clutching something into one of the pockets in the young man's trousers and released its contents. "Let this remind you to never go against your orders." The deformed voice murmured into Alexy's ears when its owner leaned into him briefly to pull his hand out of his subordinate's pocket.

The young man only blinked at him, still processing Grimnir's words. He did not notice the waitress who brought him the steak that he had received via the ways of promotion.

Grimnir grabbed the bottle of mead that she carried on her tray as she approached them to unburden herself of their order. "And one last thing. If you see a man in his early thirties, with purple hair and a stupid haircut, and who's brandishing a gnarled staff and walking around with his eyes closed; report it to me immediately. His master owes me an audience." He turned around and strode towards the exit. "Otherwise wait for further instructions from me. For now I have an unfinished business in the north that I need to attend to." He threw across his shoulder and disappeared, leaving stunned Alexy alone.

The young man shook his head and looked down at the bag of coins in his hand, and then turned his attention to his pocket. He carefully slid his hand into it and and could not contain a horrified gasp that left his lips when his fingers had curled around its still warm contents.

Alexy glanced down as he pulled a fistfull of teeth and bloodied tissue out of his trousers and then he quickly shoved them back in. He suddenly felt like he wasn't in the mood for a steak right now and hastily reached for a pint of beer that the owner of the teeth had ordered a few moments ago.


	5. Criminal Activity

Trigger warnings for mentions of death, incest, some drugs, violence, miscarriage and maybe something else but i don't know what other things people find triggering aside from the amount of words that a single chapter could contain, because this one is 7k long and it still doesn't do justice to what i had in mind but we have to compromise for the sake of pacing.  
I hope that whoever ends up reading this one won't cringe too hard at whatever is happening in it.

* * *

" **Hello children. I am your substitute teacher, Mr. Tarniv."**

" _ **Hello Mr. Tarniv~!"**_

" **Today we are going to talk about your hobbies and who would you like to be when you grow up. How about we'll start from the boy in a blue hoodie. Would you mind showing us your face?...No? All right. Well, who would you like to be when you grow up?"**

" _ **I wanna be a king of the world."**_

" **...very well… How about your friend with messy hair? Who do you wanna be when you grow up?"**

" _ **My name is Val! And I wanna be a modafukin' hustla. Ya better ack somebody!"**_

* * *

Xellos stood in place for a while, debating with himself whether he actually wanted to go inside or if it will be better to wait there and confront Val after the dragon is done doing… whatever that was that he came here to do. Which on itself had presented to be the problem. He had no idea what Val was up to in there despite knowing that these places are usually attended by people who have only one thing on their minds. But this seemed just too obscene, even for an individual as weird as Val. That, and the fact that Filia basically commanded him to go to this place just didn't make much sense to Xellos. Has the world been flipped upside down while he's been on his most recent errand?

All of sudden he remembered Riskfalto's mutilated body and his master's frantic call for aid during that stormy night. It was all it had taken to plunge his schedule and overall state of mazoku hierarchy into chaos. And they should be happy about that! But no, they can't revel in the messy state of affairs because it wasn't caused by them, and any chaos that is not of their doing, is a bad kind of chaos. But what kind of chaos do they consider to be good anyway? Aren't they supposed to be the bad ones? How tiresome. He didn't have a problem with how he likes his entropy before and now he's pondering about it in front of a brothel which he's about to enter. If someone had told him a month ago that he'll end up like this he'd laugh at them in their face.

But enough of that! He plastered on his signature smile onto his face, walked up the three stairs that led to the door and pulled the heavy ornate handle. Inside, immediately right next to the door, was an area that heavily resembled a hotel reception desk with enough room behind it to easily accommodate three armed men clad mostly in simple linen garments, leather arm guards and chest pieces to protect the vital organs from having a first degree encounter with various kinds of sharp tools.

An older woman sat by the desk, she wore a large kerchief on her head, with colorful floral motif and loose magenta robes adorned with meticulously detailed embroidery etched into it with green and blue thread. They all turned toward Xellos when he entered what seemed to be a lounge decorated with dark wooden panels and an elegant burgundy tapestry.

The woman stood up and all of sudden he felt it, this jagged aura that was specific to dragons. But it seemed muted and bland, as if it was greatly diluted by something much weaker.

She squinted her eyes at him when he walked up to her desk. He was about to issue a greeting and attempt to make a small talk about what prices went with what kind of service and such, but before he even had an occasion to open his mouth the old madam had beaten him to it.

"I didn't know that your kind has needs of such nature." She said jovially.

"Excuse me? What kind?" Xellos asked feigning offense despite noticing that she somehow had him figured out.

The men behind her only looked him over at him and then turned their attention back to each other.

"The evil kind. Those who thrive on pain and misery. The creatures who flaunt their fake appearances like puppets." She waved hat hands and wriggled her fingers in a spooky fashion.

"Ah, do I really give off such strong mazoku vibes? " He wondered out loud and scratched his chin with a gloved finger.

"Of course you don't!" She exclaimed and then leaned closer to him to take a better look at his face. "But I've seen this jaw and those cheekbones, and I looked into those eyes before. And I know who and what you are, Xellos Metallium. You are a general and a priest of The Geater Beast Zelas Metallium, a murderer, a deceiver, thief, destroyer, spy and a… " Her voice wavered and she withdrew back behind her desk while giving him a bitter smile.

"A what?" At this point he was no longer smiling. This old hag had unnerved him and the way she had trailed off without finishing the sentence made him feel like he was about to find out something really interesting.

He glared at her, awaiting the answer.

"A mazoku. So, did you come here to get your dick sucked? Or something else, in case you don't have one? We offer a wide range of services for a fair price. Certain workers even even are into pain." She smiled at him and the sudden change of topic almost knocked him off of his feet.

"N-y- huh?" He stammered and then proceeded to frown at the brothel keeper.

The men behind her erupted with laughter but they did not seem to pay any attention to the exchange at the reception desk so Xellos assumed that one of them must have blessed the others with a crude joke.

"That face… yes, yes… always unhappy." She mumbled under her breath, which confused the mazoku even more, but he quickly shoved off the unison that was building within him and now took his turn to lean over the desk and opened his eyes to look straight into hers.

"That's interesting. I don't remember ever crossing ways with you, and yet you act like you've met me." He wondered. "Now, isn't it rude for you to call me by my name while I don't know yours?"

"Oh! Where are my manners!" The brothel keeper exclaimed with fake indignation. She placed her hand on her chest. "I am Nevabedaya, the owner of this business."

"Do you know Filia Ul Copt?" He questioned further. It was Filia, after all, who commanded Val to visit this place and if he wasn't going to get to toy with anyone here, then he might as well shake some information out of these people.

"Uhhh… no." She looked down at her nails and then pretended to smooth down her garments.

Xellos knew a lie when he heard one, and Nevabedaya was definitely lying. However, he wasn't going to let her know about his suspicions just yet, letting her think that he believed her was more beneficial to him for now.

"How about a tall man called Val? I saw him walk in here a few moments ago." He asked and her expression brightened in an instant.

"Oh yes! I do know him quite well. He's such a nice guy. Are you two friends, perhaps? He's such a friendly person I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to tame a mazoku." She smiled up at him, teeth bared, eyes gleaming. "Oh right! Wasn't his mother called Filia? I remember him mentioning that once when he came to visit."

If he didn't know better, Xellos would take her for some aunt or grandmother, or whatever else dragons have. But the hint of possible relativity between her and Filia had missed him entirely at the moment. "T-tame?" The corner of his lips twitched and the grip he kept on his staff had tightened.

"Well, of course. You seem to be so docile- completely different from what I heard about the mazoku people." Nevabedaya nodded approvingly at her own words while still looking up at him.

He grit his teeth and looked down his nose at her. "I'm not… docile." He replied and twisted his staff into the ground so hard that it nearly made a hole in the carpet. The world seemed to be spinning in the opposite direction as of late because everything appeared to be backwards. Zelas is on the run and hiding with the dragons, Filia is having more secrets than him, Val is trying to bamboozle him into somehow feeling love, cities are being annihilated by UFO, old whores are roasting him- It's _him_ who should be doing all these things to other people! What is happening? Had the man in a black mask somehow altered reality without them noticing?

"No?" The old brothel keeper tilted her head to the side.

"We-" He stopped speaking, stricken by a sudden realization as he leaned even closer to look at her.

The old woman frowned and leaned away. "What are you doing?" She asked with a slightly panicked voice.

"You're a half-breed." The priest noted with a hint of interest as she quickly composed herself. "A half dragon." It was the first time he had encountered a natural born hybrid.

"And you've noticed this just now? You aren't very perceptive, are you now?" She laughed and crossed her arms over her chest.

Loud squealing and a round of mostly feminine laughter pierced the air and Xellos had recognized Val's voice reverberating amongst them. His gaze turned to the side, toward the curtained entrance to what he presumed was a public area but when he made to enter it Nevabedaya had grabbed him by the cape.

"Entry fee." She said when she shot her an annoyed look through his shoulder. Unfazed by his cold glare the madam outstretched her unoccupied hand in his direction.

"How much?" The priest asked while already reaching for his bag to fish out the satchel with money.

"Three knicks." She replied while wiggling the fingers of her open palm at him.

"What? Three golden coins just for entrance?" Xellos gaped at her for a moment but then he shook his head and pulled the money out of his satchel, and placed them on her desk.

"Petty." She commented while he made his way further into the building. "I knew someone just like you, even his frown matched yours."

"There is no other like me, lady." The mazoku sneered before disappearing behind the curtain.

The first thing he saw, right in front of him and sitting on a large sofa under the wall some distance away from the entrance, was Val surrounded by giggling courtesans who were sitting either next to him or on various large pillows scattered on the floor at his feet, where his suitcase also stood. Xellos had also noticed a curved sword at the dragon's side, sticking prominently from under Val's cape which must have remained concealed by the large piece of clothing while the dragon was standing.

There was a small bar on the left and a staircase leading upwards, with an entrance to the basement under it, on the right. The room was very spacious and lavishly decorated with panels made of walnut wood, dark red curtains and persian carpets. The place seemed warm and inviting but coziness was the last thing on Xellos's mind right now.

As soon as Val had spotted him, the dragon had pointed his finger at the approaching priest. "Hey, look! That's my friend, Xellos! Hi~!"

Every courtesan's head turned toward him and all of them scanned the newcomer with a gleam of curiosity in their eyes. Some were whispering between each other and some busied themselves with adjusting their skirts.

If Val was surprised to see Xellos there, he didn't show it. The young dragon proved to be very hard to read which annoyed the mazoku to no end, especially today. He remembered Filia saying something about the taste of his own medicine when he pointed that out once, but discarded the unwelcome memory in favor of the scene in front of him.

"I must admit, that I would have never guessed what Filia had in mind when she told you to go to a _Candy Shop_. Unless this is place was not where she wanted you to come and you're just taking advantage of her wording." He smiled at the possibility of having some blackmailing material on Val.

One of the courtesans nodded at him. "Uhm. Why is that scar on your face black? Did you paint it?"

The question momentarily derailed his train of thought and he reached up to touch the left side of his face. "Scar?" He looked at his gloved hand which did not bear a single stain of his black blood on it. So the wound had closed last night and he failed to notice it until now. "Ah this. It just looks like this for some reason."

Without further ado, the courtesans slowly turned their attention back to Val.

"So, as I was saying, we were goin' to that shady witch that was livin' at the corner, and then I see a shoe sticking out of the nook between them tenements, and it was one of those expensive looking ones. So I go there because man, maybe there's another one in 'ere and if I have a set then I can sell 'em, and I come closer and it turns out there is the other shoe but there's a corpse attached to it!" One of them exclaimed and shook her hands as if she was trying to physically push the memory away.

"Grossss…." Val frowned at the girl.

"She started screaming!" Another one interjected, she seemed slightly older and smaller than the other one. "And I ran to her and was like 'Shut up! What if they see us and say we did it?'"

"They wouldn't! I wouldn't be screamin' if I done it!" The younger retorted.

"Someone probably cut him down for money. I bet he was fighting too hard." Added yet another courtesan, which under closer inspection, had turned out to be a cross-dressing male.

Xellos wasn't surprised by this revelation, many people who lived in poverty turned to sex work regardless of their gender or their views on sexuality. Once they got desperate, none of those played a significant role in money making. A job is a job, he thought and sat down next to the aforementioned worker.

"I thought that too, he had no coin on him and all his buttons were gone; must have been silver or gold made." Said the older of the two women who were speaking before.

"So, did you take his shoes?" The priest asked while wondering why would Val come to this place for?

"Yea, hid them under my dress before we reported to the city guards." The woman nodded and pointed at the folds of white and brown fabric rustling around her legs. "But I don't have them anymore. Already sold 'em."

Val waved at the group. "Did you know the guy? The likes of him don't wander around here for no reason."

They all looked at each other and then at Xellos. It was quite obvious that whatever they were willing to share with the dragon was not meant to be heard by anybody else- not without money being involved. Val caught up on their hesitation and he leaned closer to the courtesan who sold the stolen pair of shoes. He turned one pointy ear at her and she slid from the pillow that she was sitting on and closed the distance between them.

"Is it really that much of a secret?" The mazoku whined. "It's not as if I'm going to tell anyone, you know? I'm quite good at keeping secrets."

"And what will we have from it?" Asked the courtesan next to him. They all were staring at him again.

He could see the glint of consideration in their eyes while they waited for his reply. Of course nothing could come for free in a brothel, no matter if it was an entry to the public area to sit with the staff members, engaging in some more primal acts with them or just snooping around-

He almost let his smile drop and his gaze wander toward the young dragon who was observing him along with the other occupants of the room. That scaly bastard came here to gather information, didn't he? What's a better place to do it than a brothel in a city that was known as the largest trade center on the eastern shore? Such a well kept place without a doubt had an abundance of wealthy customers, some of them must have had a hand in military business. But still, that didn't explain these courtesans familiarity with him, and the fact that Filia knew about this place and ordered Val to come here specifically. The workers didn't seem to want anything from the dragon in exchange of information, which on itself was pretty bizarre.

Heaving a sigh, he pulled out a sack of money and them picked out a number of gold coins corresponding with the number of sex workers currently present in the room, and started stacking them in front of himself.

Once she saw it, the courtesan who was about to talk with Val returned to her place and smiled up at the priest. The others also lightened up and then all of them outstretched their hands toward him.

He briefly thought about how displeased Zelas will be with him once she finds out that he spent a significant amount of money in a brothel. But worrying about that will have to wait because right then he had some funds to divide.

Xellos placed on each waiting hand a golden coin but they refrained from pocketing the money in various nooks and patches that their dresses were, without a doubt, full of. Such people have a way of hiding their currency.

"The guy's name was Alep." Said one of the women. "Fat and tall he was, and kinda old, but he had a chain of canning factories and made good business with the royals."

"He was coming here since I joined." The courtesan next to him hummed.

"Yea, and guess what?" Added the shoe stealing one. "There was a scandal in here. With him."

Another one gasped and leaned closer to Xellos and he reciprocated the gesture. "That was really screwed up! It had turned out one day that his favourite lady is his own daughter. He had her out of wedlock. And she is what, like nineteen or something right now?"

The others nodded.

"I guess she is." Confirmed a courtesan who sat the furthest away and remained silent until now. "But she's busy with a client right now, so if you wanna ask her, you'll have to wait with Val."

"You're waiting for a courtesan?" Xellos was a little dumbfounded because of that piece of information.

"Yea. She should be done soon." The dragon deadpanned while he brought his suitcase up from the floor and placed it on his lap, but otherwise making no move to open it while the girls started to chit-chatter around.

"Out of wedlock you say?" The mazoku mused. He was now genuinely interested in their story. It did sound twisted in a way that would cause a great amount of joy to a creature like him, were he able to witness it with his own two eyes. "Had his wife found out?" He asked.

"Oh no. She didn't. If she did then they would be in the middle of a divorce!" The woman next to Val laughed and waved her hand.

Before any more comments could follow, two men walked into the room and the cross dressing courtesan along with the one who sat by Val's left side rose up quickly and rushed to the new customers with wide smiles plastered on their faces. Their expressions reminded Xellos about his own fake smile and he suddenly felt a great deal of discomfort due to that comparison.

He should not, under any circumstance, compare himself to a prostitute.

Val's laugh accompanied by a chorus of soft giggles made him tear his attention away from the two courtesans who were now leading the fancy looking, middle aged men up the staircase.

"Don't tell us you've never done it." One of the women said while holding her palm over her mouth to stifle her laughing fit.

He definitely wasn't going to discuss THAT with those people! If they weren't who they were, he would have told them that it's a secret but right now, and right here it would sound just stupid and to them it would seem like he's asking for being patronized. So no, it's not a secret this time, but it is not their business either!

"Oh, he's a mazoku. I don't know if they can… " Val said and looked at him with a glint of mirth in his golden eyes.

Xellos had to fight back an urge to wham his staff repeatedly against the dragon's skull. Now _that. was. a secret!_

A collective gasp sounded through the room and to his surprise, the courtesans slightly leaned in toward him.

"So that's why that scar on your face is black!" Exclaimed one of them.

"Aren't mazoku supposed to be ugly?" Another one smiled in a way that he found quite unsettling. "He looks handsome."

"Is that true that mazoku eat people's feelings?" Asked the third.

"Only the bad ones, and it's less like eating them and more like being powered by them." He sighed and rubbed his eyelids. "And the stronger mazoku can make themselves look human. We don't have physical bodies." He added, just because he felt like it didn't matter at this point if they knew something so basic about mazoku in general, or not.

"So… can you fuck?" Questioned some other girl.

Nothing remains forgotten here, does it?

"It's none of your business." The priest said irritably and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"But we want to know!" They all whined at him successfully drowning the sounds that came from the floor above at the same time.

He noticed as Val was trying to conceal his laughter, which gave him an idea for a payback. "Do you know that Val is a dragon? Why don't you ask him if he's done it?"

The courtesans however, remained unmoved as it had turned out that they were already aware of what the man sitting on the couch among them really was.

"I've already met dragons, but I've never seen a real mazoku before." A courtesan next to Xellos commented. "Tell us something more about yourself."

At that moment Xellos had decided that that was enough sharing and he's not going to answer any more questions about monsters and whatnot. "It's a secret." He said whilst presenting them the meanest smile he could muster.

It did not work. They just started to whine even louder instead.

"No!" He said more firmly this time. "Why don't you bother Val about what he does with his own body? You're not getting anything out of me."

These words seemed to have an effect on them, but it was not exactly the effect he was aiming at, for they only exchanged knowing looks between each other and then outstretched their hands toward him, palms up. He only looked down at the unspoken 'buy my silence' kind of gesture and put his head into his hands while Val started laughing out loud.

"Fine." He grit out and pulled more coins out of the satchel that he was keeping in his bag. Everyone was quiet while each courtesan received her coin and after all was settled they had pulled back to their cushions and the sofa while clutching the money in their closed fists.

Before anyone managed to start a new conversation they heard footsteps coming from the staircase and Xellos noticed a short man clad in a grey cloak walk down the steps. The man paid them no heed and only rushed to the exit without sparing them a second glance.

"Oh! That must have been Taffi's client!" Chirped one of the girls.

"Finally! I have something I want to ask her." Val yawned and tapped his fingers on the suitcase which he still kept on his lap.

"Taffi?" Xellos quirked his eyebrow at the courtesans.

"You know. The one who slept with her father." One of them answered so nonchalantly that it sounded like it was the most common occurrence in the world.

"But man, have you heard about Gummy? She got pregnant with one of her clients." A tall courtesan in a violet dress turned to Val and he looked back at her with a slightly perplexed expression.

"Was?" The young dragon didn't hide his curiosity. "She isn't anymore?"

"No. His daughter had found out." She said and the others nodded.

"How? Aren't you and your identities protected by your sponsors?" Xellos could not stop himself from asking. It was a mistake on his part because he knew that they would just keep talking when left alone, but now, when they knew that they got him invested in their story they turned silent and gave him _that_ look. 'Pay' it said without them even uttering the damned word.

Val only leaned back on the sofa and flashed at the mazoku a smug smile. That flying lizard is going to pay for this and even Filia won't be able to save him!

He was about to reach for the money again but he was stopped when a sound of rushed footsteps from above averted everyone's attention toward the staircase again. The screaming fits that followed would have left any normal person's hearing severely damaged.

The dragon jumped off the couch as a young woman with a curly, shoulder length, dark blonde hair ran down the stairs with her hands outstretched toward him. "AAAAh! Val! My derg! Where have you been?!"

"TAFFY! I'm so sorry I couldn't visit earlier!" Val strode to her and they both shared a tight hug.

The other courtesans booed at the two and started making inappropriate jokes at their expense but neither the dragon nor the young courtesan that just joined them seemed to care. They sat down on the couch next to each other and then she noticed Xellos, who was still sitting cross legged on a large cushion.

"Hi~!" She greeted him in the same fashion as Val, when he had first entered the room.

"Xellos is a mazoku." One of the girls in the group disclosed with a smile on her face. It was an opposite reaction he was used to seeing when someone found out about his true identity.

"Is he!?" The new addition to the gossiping party gaped shamelessly at him. "Is it true that mazoku have fake bodies? How does it feel to be detached from reality?"

The priest frowned at that. "I'm not… detached from reality… Actually, you know what? How about instead of me, paying you, for hearing your gossips, I will tell you what you want to know about the mazoku race?" He asked, hoping that their curiosity will overcome their greediness.

But of course such hopes were short lived because as soon, as he had said these words the courtesans turned away from him and pretended to not hear his proposal at all.

"What were you talking about though?" Asked the blonde whom others addressed as Taffy.

"Gummy." Replied the shoe stealing courtesan. "You know, in the middle of the street." She whispered while sending a glance at Xellos, whose patience was slowly wearing thin.

It seemed to him that Val was just sitting here for hours and gathering information about nothing in particular. And he sincerely doubted that the corpse of a canning factory chain's owner would be of much help. It was quite obvious to him that the man's death was orchestrated by his wife who had found out about his numerous affairs and wanted to have her revenge along with the inheritance of the whole business. That, or some other family member set him up to die for similar reasons. He doubted that Val had missed on this, so why was he still sitting here without making any moves at the courtesan whom he was waiting for, or asking more relevant questions?

Taffi looked at the dragon next to her and when he nodded, she turned to look at the other girls, and then back down at Xellos. She outstretched her open palm toward him and the rest of the courtesans followed.

He leaned in their direction and bared his fangs. "Greed is a sin, don't you know?" The priest growled while he dug out the money out of his satchel.

That only made them laugh. "We're all about sin, mister!" They chided.

"That scar looks nice on you when you're angry." Remarked a girl who sat by Val's left side, while snatching the coin from him.

"It suits him in general, don't ya'll agree?! It looks more like warpaint!" The shoe girl shouted and the other courtesans along with Val loudly deemed that to be true.

"Ugh, can we go back to that Gummy lady?" Xellos rubbed his temples in exasperation.

"Oh, right! Her." Said Taffy..

Val had pulled his suitcase back onto his lap and placed his elbows on top of it so he could put his chin in his hands.

"So, Gummy was pregnant, and you know what she did?" A courtesan who was sitting across Xellos resumed the story. "She told the father when he came here! And she was crying, and all!"

"And he was like 'I'll pay you, just don't tell nobody it's mine!' but she wouldn't stop crying so he gave her his handkerchief and left. Ran out like scorched!" Added a courtesan who was sitting next to her.

"Yea, and she went to me and started bawlin'. I didn' know what to do, so I took her down here to give her a drink." The shoe girl said. "But then that guy's daughter had walked in, 'cause it had turned out that she suspected him for cheatin' on her mother, so she followed him here. I bet she wanted to confirm it was him. Ya kno' give some money and snoop around. And we didn't know who she was. I served her at the bar while Gummy kept crying a few seats away. She saw that an' she put a stack of coins on the counter and acks me 'What's wit' her?' and I tell 'er 'Got pregnant on accident.' and them she saw that handkerchief Gummy was holdin'."

"There was that dude's initials stitched into it and she recognized it all. And I didn't even know when she ran up at Gummy and she punched her in the eye, and then dragged her from her seat and tried to kick her but Gummy ran. And she ran out and on the street but that bitch gave chase and she caught up quick. And the men at reception were like 'What is goin' on!?' but before they broke it up the bitch grabbed Gummy by them hair and she punched her in the belly." The courtesan swung her fist in the air. "And she just doubled down and fell on the cobblestone and started bleedin' so we knew the kids was gone."

"And what what did the Dragon Mama do with them?" Val asked.

The Dragon Mama must have been the nickname given to Nevabedaya by the workers, Xellos reasoned.

"She made Gummy take a break and see a doctor, but she didn't do anythin' with that crazy woman. The bitch was rich and if you saw her fight the mens!" She put her hands on her head and the other courtesans looked at her with disdain. "That wench wa g." The woman emphasized. "Some of them still have scratches on them."

"Wow, condolences." The dragon winced. "Speaking of bleeding and such." He started and the girls immediately sat upright and turned to him.

"Oh, finally! I don't understand what you were waiting for even? It's not like Taffi wouldn't have come down if you started sooner?" One of the girls complained while Xellos puzzled over the reason behind the commotion.

He was wondering when the suitcase will come into play and what Val intended to do with all those little pouches in it.

"Heh, no. But you know I like to hear you prattle for a while." The young dragon admitted as he rose from the couch and began walking toward the stairs. "It'll be better if we go someplace with a table or a desk."

"I have a table in my room. We can go there." Offered one of the girls and ran forward to lead the way. The rest of the group had followed and Xellos decided to keep tagging along since no one presented any objectives to his presence in the first place.

The room was placed on the second floor near the end of the long, burgundy corridor. They all spilled into the spacious scarcely furnished place which contained only a large bed, a big wooden chest and a rectangular table made of red oak, with three chairs placed around it.

Val sat himself by one end of the table and the courtesans either took the two remaining chairs or bundled on the bed, leaving no place for the mazoku to claim for himself. If they were aiming to piss the priest off or force him to pay them to sit on the bed with them, then it did not work, for Xellos only flashed them a wide smile and made himself comfortable by levitating a meter above the floor with his legs crossed and his staff laid on his lap, as he usually tended to do.

The room went silent and the courtesans stared at the display of a basic mazoku ability right next to the bed. Magic users were very rare in these parts of the world, and so even the simplest of magical acts were regarded with great interest; a subtle cough from Val made them turn their attention back to the dragon.

Val placed the suitcase on his lap and opened it, he then proceeded to lay out it's contents on the table along with empty phials, a small balance scale with two plates made of brass, a silver teaspoon, a few small sheets of thin paper, and a small thick plate made of glass.

Had Xellos paid more attention to the pouches that Filia tried to untangle earlier than to the dragoness herself, he would have it figured out way sooner. Unfortunately his weakness for her made him overlook the fact that she was potentially handling a fine amount of drugs, or should he say, herbs that dragons were forbidden to share with humans for various reasons ranging from their rarity to their lethal, for humans, side effects.

"Criminal… " Xellos commented as the courtesan who sat closest to the young dragon requested a triple portions of "the usual", whatever it was. And to think it was Filia who made him come here to do business! That Filia! The shrine maiden who clung so closely to the idea of moral purity and redemption that he's found it difficult to even look at her at times- not that that stopped them from getting much too physical with each other in a way that everybody in this place would love to hear about- but still! Those actions were more befitting to a mazoku than a dragon. Who does she thinks she is? And to think that she'd sent Val-

The priest stopped his inner monologue at the sight of the coins that the workers managed to squeeze out of him, now being placed on the table by the courtesan who was currently being served her portion of dragon remedies, and who pushed them at the dragon who handed her four phials full of various herbs. Said dragon had pocketed the money and then called for the next client.

He must have made a face because a wave of loud laughter had erupted from the courtesans who were nesting on the bed.

"Oh my! Are you mad, mazoku?" One of them inquired.

Xellos ignored her and frowned at Val. "You're a drug dealer and a hustler…" He hissed in disdain.

"At your service." The young dragon mumbled without even sparing him a glance while weighing a mixture of some blue sand and orange looking flower petals.

"Hopefully that service of yours will come in handy soon because I'm starting to think that we'll be better off without you." The mazoku threatened.

That made the dragon look up at him. "Úlita wouldn't forgive you, and that would get your master in trouble."

They locked eyes and after a few seconds of staring each other down Val had returned to his task while Xellos was left to hover above the ground and watch as his gold was handled to Filia's foster son.

When most of the courtesans were deprived of their newly acquired riches and equipped with illegal dragon medicine the room slowly started to become less crowded after the ringing of small bells came from the corridors, presumably signaling to the workers that they had clients waiting for them downstairs.

Now Taffi approached Val at last but before she requested the amount of the herbs he was to prepare for her the dragon asked: "Have you met your soldier lately?"

"The blond guy? Yea, he was here a week ago if I remember correctly. Said something about big plans, promised to visit this week." She summarized.

Xellos's eyes snapped open at the word soldier and he drifted closer to the two.

Val looked at her for a moment when she placed her order, and then took the single coin she was about to offer him and started measuring ingredients on his balance scale. "Anything more specific?" He asked.

She looked down at the brass plates and how the dragon added a few more grams of ingredients on the sheet of paper that kept the herbs and powders from contacting the metal.

"I remember that he'd told me once that his name is Shniga." Taffy said as Val added a few more sprinkles to the pile. "He was bragging about how important he is among the people he's working with. Spoke about some war machines and some guy who's got hanged… "

"The Hanged Man." Val mumbled while writing the dosage on the tag attached to the phial, to which he then poured the measured mixture.

"That's the one! Do you know him?" Inquired the surprised courtesan.

"Heard of him." The dragon replied and started weighing another set of herbs.

"Oh really?" Xellos interjected. "How about you brief us in? If you heard about him then he must be pretty important." The priest chided. He was in a bad mood and this entire situation with the dragons somehow being friendly with an expensive brothel's staff, dealing dragon drugs, and gathering information about some kind of secret mafia which even mazoku did not seem to know about, had pointed at some major things that must have happened in the past, of which he was unaware. The entire city was blasted off the surface of the realm right under their noses and Filia did not even bother to save a single cat out of there! And he got hustled out of nearly all his money!

"Frowny, scary when angered. That's all." Val stated and got back to mixing another concoction.

"Shniga said that The Hanged Man was clad in all black and spoke only to few, and that he was one of those important few." Taffy informed.

"All black?" The mazoku whispered. "Had mister Shniga said anything about his boss wearing a helmet of sorts?"

"Uh, no I don't think he said much more. We were, you know, busy…" The courtesan smiled at him and winked.

They were interrupted by a pair of courtesans who left the group earlier to attend to their clients.

"Don't forget about us!" Exclaimed one of them as they walked up to the bed and joined the few ones who were still in the room, silently listening to the conversation that was going on. "Taffy, there's a guy who's asking for you downstairs, said a friend recommended you to him. He's young, brown hair made into ponytail, he's got a pair of shiny leather boots on." She turned at the shoe stealing courtesan, who was still with them, and giggled. "Haven't seen him here, probably a first timer. Was kinda shaky."

"Aha~ I'm going." Taffy nodded and hastily hid the phials in the pockets in her dress. She thanked Val and ran out of the room.

The priest turned to them. "Does anybody else know anything about The Hanged Man and his followers?!" He raised his voice slightly to make them take him more seriously this time.

The occupants of the room considered him for a moment and then they all shook their heads. Xellos regarded them with a cold glare until he determined that none of them was lying.

After that, the time seemed to flow faster. Val had quickly measured the asked amounts of medicine for both courtesans and received his payment, but when Xellos thought that he was done and about to pack his tools, the dragon had prepared two more mixtures. Each of them was poured to a phial made of dark glass and labeled. They were then, placed in Val's pockets and after he was done, he had returned his belongings back to the old suitcase.

"Well, see you later!" The young dragon stood up, rightened the belt that hoisted the curved sword he kept hidden behind his back, and dusted his pants. He grabbed the suitcase and walked to the door, with Xellos following closely behind.

When they reached the reception Val stopped by the desk and placed the dark phials in Nevabedaya's hands, who in turn handed him the exact same coins that Xellos had paid her with. The priest knew they had to be, the look on her face when she glanced up at him had told him just that.

"Bless you boys!" She smiled at Val despite addressing them both and bowed her head slightly.

"Take care Dragon Ma'." He grinned and the men who sat behind her turned around and nodded at him.

"See ya' 'round, vato!" One of them called while others grunted a few parting words.

After Val was done with his goodbyes he turned back to Xellos and with a pleased expression on his face announced that they should be going.

"Oh yes, we should." The mazoku replied and as soon as they closed the front door behind them, he grabbed Val by the arm and they both disappeared before the dragon had a chance to figure out what was going on.

They appeared on a muddy countryside road that cut between the fields of wheat and Val had quickly jerked his arm out of Xellos's grasp.

"Now it's your turn to answer a few questions of mine." The priest sneered.


	6. Monster

Sorry for late update ;-;  
tw: blood and violence, lots of it

* * *

Wheat, wheat, dirt, and more wheat.

"Shit…." Val grumbled when he failed to recognize his surroundings. He could not jump spaces if he didn't know where he was!

"Watch your language." The mazoku in front of him rebuked. "I don't know what was happening with the two of you during those two hundred years when we did not see each other, but it's obvious to me that it was nothing good." He said without even a hint of humour in his voice and stared up at the dragon with a grave expression. "Start talking."

"I don't kno-" Val got hit in the face by the tip of Xellos's staff so fast that he had no chance of dodging and the force of the blow made his head bounce back.

Xellos took a few steps closer to him and halted when their chests were nearly touching. "Don't lie to me." The priest hissed as he glared up at the dragon with his cold amethyst eyes, the scars on his face only made him look more menacing.

"Oww… " Val moaned into his open palm. He placed one hand over his nose and pulled it back to look at it, then winced when he saw blood dripping down his fingers. He made a move to touch his face again but appeared unsure if doing so won't make it hurt more than it already did.

The sun still hung high on the clear blue sky and the cold gust of wind moved the sea of wheat around them in waves. Silence weighed heavily between them while the taller man struggled to come up with a sufficient answer.

"I asked you a question. Answer me or I'll break more than just your nose." The priest whispered threateningly.

"You'll make me into a baby?" Val huffed.

"What?" The Mazoku knit his brows together in confusion.

"Infants have more bones than grown people. If you'll break some of mine then I'll have more." The dragon explained.

Xellos's eyes flashed red.

"I always thought that was kinda inaccurate because, what about teeth? They're bones, right? And we grow them as we grow up, so, we end up growing more bones anyway when our infant bones fuse together."

" . . . . . . . ' . ." The priest grit out and twisted the end of his staff into the ground. "I'll ask again, _nicely,_ if you will keep avoiding answering my question then you'll end up a few bones short in your mouth, _kid_. What happened when I was gone?"

"You're asking a wrong person-"

Xellos swiftly grabbed Val by his neck and brought him down so their faces were at the same level. "You have the information that I want, ergo, you are the right person." He said with a strained sort of patience.

"This answer is not mine to give." The dragon choked out while his captor tightened the grip on his neck.

"So something did happen." The mazoku concluded while Val's blood kept dripping down between them. "How serious?"

"Ask ύlita Filia." Val said.

Xellos shook him like one would shake a piggy bank in order to check the status of their savings, splattering some dragon blood on his own scarred face. Ironically, Val's pocket jingled with all the gold coins he had harvested earlier that day.

"I-I d-don't know-w! I w-wasn-n't ther-e-e!" The young dragon stammered.

"Where?" Xellos stopped shaking the hustler.

"Wherever." Came a short reply that indicated Val's complete refusal to cooperate.

To say that the ancient one was annoying, was an understatement because right now the priest had found him to be the most infuriating thing he had ever dealt with. Val clearly wasn't good at pretending that he has nothing to hide, or that he was totally harmless, but what he was actually good at, was his ability to derail conversations towards ridiculous topics, and to show up when he was least wanted. He was somehow able to mentally outmanoeuvre Xellos while deliberately pissing him off and completely discarding any notion of self preservation that normally would go into overdrive had any other dragon been put into Val's situation.

There was only one other person who managed to master all those ridiculous abilities into near perfection, and that person was no other than Lina Inverse. It was all incredibly unnerving considering that despite of an abundance of friendliness that Val seemed to radiate at everybody who approached him, it was difficult to tell what he was actually thinking. Facing someone this difficult to read and manipulate, and not being allowed to bring upon them any permanent harm, was something that made Xellos want to eradicate all life within 20 leagues radius.

Had the world not been working backwards as of late he wouldn't have such an intense reaction to his current situation. At least dealing with Lina Inverse was fun! He could not say the same about Val.

"You have a problem?" The dragon croaked out while trying to breathe through his broken, blood dripping nose.

Xellos responded by headbutting him and letting the dragon stumble back, and fall into the wheat field while letting go of the suitcase that he was still clutching in his hand. "Yes." The mazoku said. "Mostly because you're not answering my questions." He made to walk over where the dragon was scrambling from the ground but stopped in his tracks when he noticed that Val's hand had wandered toward the hilt of his sickle sword, which he kept hidden under his cape.

"You can't be serious." Xellos sighed as he rubbed his temples, but even as he did so a small smile stretched across his face.

"S-scared tha-at you'll end u-up with your fa-ace in the di-irt?" The dragon blurted out while he tried to regain his balance, resembling more of a drunken vagabond who just woke up from his afternoon nap in the hay, than the last member of ancient dragons race. "I kno-ow how to fi-ight."

The mazoku scowled at that. "I wasn't asking you about your fighting skills." He tightened the grip on his staff and waited for Val's next move. There was no denying that he was genuinely curious about the hustler's combat abilities but at this particular moment he wasn't in the mood for holding back.

"Too b-bad." Val finally managed to stand up straight and drew out his sword. The curved blade shone in the sunlight as he turned it's curve downward and brought it at his eye level, one hand holding the handle and the other placed near the tip of it between his thumb and his open palm. He then swung it around and gripped the handle with both hands, holding the blade upright in front of his face while angling himself so his right leg was slightly drawn out.

"I appreciate the presentation, but that won't change the fact, that no matter how much strength an ancient dragon could possess, it will never be enough to even put a hole in my cape." The mazoku taunted.

"You won-n't let me go, so I'll ha-ave to a-at least try. You know-w, I wa-anted to get some grocers' befo-ore we go back home. I've bee-en craving stew-w for a few days." The dragon admitted.

"I will let you go when you answer my questions, then you can have your stew. One would imagine that saying a few words would be much quicker and easier, than subjecting oneself to pain and humiliation of defeat, but let's have it your way." Xellos replied with poorly feigned politeness. He had enough of wasting his time on pointless rambling that Val seemed to initiate whenever he tried to distract people from the current topic of their conversation when things didn't go his way.

"What's y-your worth?" Val asked as his expression darkened.

"What?" The sudden question caught Xellos off guard. Now that was really confusing and he failed to pick up the context for it.

"How many m-moves… it had taken you to defeat... your most powerful opponent so far, and h-how long did i-it take?" Came the reply that was mumbled between Val's unsuccessful attempts to snort back in the blood that was dripping from his nose.

"In minutes?" Xellos raised his eyebrows at the explanation and then started mentally sorting through the battles he could remember.

"Segonds." Val supplied.

"... it's… I don't remember. I don't pay attention to such things when I don't have to." The mazoku admitted in irritation. "Besides, I am the one who's asking questions here, so you tell me instead, how did Filia get associated with an owner of a brothel who runs her business two countries away from where you live?"

The dragon did not respond; he leapt forward instead, and attacked. He sliced across Xellos's middle but the mazoku was quicker and easily avoided the blade by disappearing from it's path before it could reach him. To mock the move he reappeared only a few centimeters away from his previous spot.

"Oh my, you're slower than I expected." Xellos commented as if he were merely making observation regarding the current state of the weather as Val kept moving forward and trying to reach him with his curved sword.

For a moment he considered actually letting Val land a blow on him, just to see the dragon's reaction when it would do no damage whatsoever, but he decided against it. There was enough strange happenings as of late, better not to bait the fates. "What _Urquina Onram?_ " He asked while dodging Val's attempts to cut him.

"Who knows." The dragon replied while he kept attacking.

Xellos noticed, with some curiosity, that Val kept following a certain pattern: every fourth swing was aimed at the head, and every second aim was a thrust at the heart. The dragon kept steadily attacking with his sword despite taking a hit that was strong enough to make him fall and lose his balance. The ancient ones truly were a sturdy race, the priest noted, but sooner or later he'll run out of stamina and then it will be only a matter of knocking him off of his feet one more time and dragging his already bloodied face through the dirt.

"You know… " The mazoku started again. "I don't think this fighting technique suits the kind of sword that you're using." He said nonchalantly as a curved blade was thrust at his shoulder, which still remained barely out of it's reach; and just as the move for the head was supposed to come, Val suddenly spun around, and jumped high while aiming a kick at the side of Xellos's head.

The move was so fast and unexpected that he almost succeeded in landing it, but at the last moment the mazoku disappeared and then showed up a few meters behind Val, who landed and spun 180 degrees on his knee to face him.

To priest's astonishment, the dragon immediately sprang to his feet and charged at him again.

Val took a swing at Xellos's arm and then aimed a thrust at his chest while the mazoku proceeded to dodge just like before.

"I see. So that's how it is. This dull pattern only serves to trick your opponent into thinking that they have you figured out, but in reality you're waiting for a moment they let their guard down enough for you to make an irregular move and take them by surprise." Xellos observed. "That's sneaky. I find it impressive that the last representative of an ancient race would resort to such methods."

The dragon took a swing at his head but Xellos only took a step back.

The mazoku regarded his opponent for a second and then all of sudden lifted his staff and hit Val in the abdomen with its bottom end, making the dragon double down and fall to his knees as he clutched his stomach with his free hand. Xellos was about to bring down the orb-adorned top on Val's head to bash it into the ground when the young dragon swiftly jumped forward and sliced at his legs, avoiding the blow at the same time.

Xellos's staff made an indent in the dirt path while the curved sword sunk into the side of his leg, but he felt no pain and it did not manage to cut even halfway into the false flesh of the body he projected into this realm.

The failure to cleave his opponent's leg off did not have the anticipated effect on Val, who quickly pulled away and twirled the sword in his hand as he spun around the mazoku and aimed at the back of his neck with all his strength. It was all too slow to reach the priest however, and Xellos had vanished again before appearing next to the dragon, catching his sword hand by the wrist, and throwing him down the path with enough force to make him hit the path several yards away.

"Tricky, aren't you?" The mazoku said more to himself than to the dragon who was picking himself up in the distance. Their little skirmish actually started to grow pretty amusing.

Val, who was struggling to hoist his body from the ground, shook his head weakly to clear his vision which went momentarily blurry. He tried to think about a way out of being interrogated by the approaching monster.

The wheat around him had waved slightly from side to side, moved by the northern wind that blew down the field. It made the air more chilly and the prospect of harsh winter had once again made itself more prominent. This time he remembered Jillas and his snow igloo that he had built during the night after the first snow had fallen 208 years ago. They hadn't had an igloo since that time. Maybe he should make one this winter? Perhaps he could talk Xellos into competing with him in igloo making? Filia would be the judge, of course she would declare Val a winner just out of spite but he knew that she would have fun. They hadn't had fun for a really long time…

His train of thought was derailed by the mazoku, who appeared in front of him and fladhed him a wicked smile. "Done already?" He asked with a malicious note in his voice.

"Wann-a make an-n igloo?" Val splattered as he slowly stood up on wobbly legs.

Xellos blinked down at him and his smile had promptly vanished. "I don't understand you." He stated as a matter-of-factly. "What does me making an igloo has anything to do with _this_?" The priest outstretched his hand and swept it around in the air, gesturing at their surroundings.

"Ah. I was just thinking… no matter." The dragon mumbled and then moved forward to slice at Xellos's arm.

Instead of dodging, this time, the Lesser Beast blocked the blow with his staff. He noted with some interest that the blade curved neatly around it, and it's tip hovered a few centimeters away from his left ear. Without a warning he caught Val by the neck once more and dragged his face closer to his own. "Why isn't Filia's tail showing up anymore when she loses control over her feelings? She's never been good at controlling herself, what changed?" He asked.

Val responded to that question by kneeing him in the groin.

Xellos grimaced and looked at him in a funny way. "... rude." Was all he said before he paid the dragon back by sinking his knee in Val's already bruised abdomen. "I've said it already but your fighting style really doesn't suit the kind of sword you're using. You're never going to reach me with a blade like this. Take it as an advice."

"Nob-dy acksed yo." The dragon spat out a generous amount of blood and shoved his blade at Xellos's chest while the mazoku vanished from existence right in front of him.

"There's something else I want to know, and I'm positive that you can provide me with an answer." The priests voice sounded through the air. "Lady Nevabedaya mentioned that she recognized my facial features. I'm quite sure we've never met. Care to elaborate on that?"

"C-can't help wit dat o-one. May-be you passed her on a-a street?" Val stammered while he swept his sleeve across his face to wipe the blood off.

"Ah, but you see, she would have to pass me quite frequently to be able to recognize me and I don't recall visiting that city during the last 10 years. And she said that she recognizes my facial features, not me." Xellos appeared a few yards away from Val and started circling around him like a predator waiting for a chance to leash out at his prey.

"H-how am I supp-sed to kno what she m-meant?" The dragon cursed Nevabedaya's carelessness. She liked to meddle with other people's business, of course it would be too much for her to not bait Xellos with information that did not concern her. Some things should be left unsaid; memories of old horrors left to fade with time of which he and Filia were running out of.

Val grit his teeth. That interrogation had to end!

He disappeared and then showed up behind Xellos, aiming his sword at his neck once again. The mazoku avoided the blow by falling into a crouching position and spinning around on his knee to swipe his staff at Val's legs but before it reached the dragon, he had disappeared again.

Val appeared next to Xellos and aimed a kick at him, however, instead of dodging the priest had caught his leg and swung him in the air as he stood up and slammed the hustler face down into the ground. A cloud of dust from the dry earth of the path had engulfed them, thrown in the air by the sheer force of impact.

The dragon groaned. "I'm pree-tty sss-ure I brokh a rib…" He spluttered while turning around to lay on his back.

"And what about your teeth?" Xellos inquired while surveying him from a standing position.

"... s-sdill haff enuff o' dem… to bite ye lim-mbs off…" Val mumbled as he tried to blink off particles of dirt and dust that kept falling around him.

"I suggest using them, along with your tongue, to tell me what is going on with Filia." The priest poked his stunned victim with his staff. "It'll be healthier for you, believe me." He nodded at his own words.

"S…" The dragon started weakly but did not seem to be able to summon enough strength to finish the word.

"Hm?" Xellos leaned forward and smiled at the miserable sight in front of him.

"Screw you." Val growled and once again teleported to Xellos's side while taking a swing at his arm. He very nearly managed to hit his target and cleave the monster's arm off, had Xellos not jumped away. The dragon immediately sprang forward with his blade lifted up, aiming at the tip of the priest's head. He stomped down his leg so hard that the ground had cracked under his boot as he slashed down, nearly burying his sword in the dirt while the mazoku had jumped to the side with a mocking grin on his face.

"It doesn't matter how strong you are if you can't catch me." The Lesser Beast taunted but Val did not respond, nor had he moved from his position and remained kneeling on the ground on one knee. The dragon was breathing heavily and staring at something that layed in front of him. The grip he kept on the sickle-sword tightened for a moment and Xellos could sense a great amount of distress coming from him all of sudden. Everything around them seemed to become even more quiet than it was before.

"Is something wrong?" Xellos asked, ignoring all the obvious things that were not right with Val.

Slowly, the hustler peered through his shoulder but the priest couldn't tell what he was looking at for his eyes were obscured by a portion of curly teal locks that got matted and soaked with blood. Val appeared to be considering his next move, but there was something more to the way his entire body had tensed once his blade nearly dug into the ground.

Val felt the tip of Xellos's staff dig on a spot between his shoulder blades. He grunted and tried to stand up but the mazoku only increased the pressure of it to force him to stay in kneeling position.

"Where did you learn to fight like that? I doubt Filia would let you participate in any kind of violence." The mazoku asked.

"Ugh…" The young dragon spat out some blood and sighed. "M-my ex taught me."

Finally an answer, albeit a vague one, has been presented to Xellos's question. It was about time for Val to cave in and start spilling. The Lesser Beast doubted that his current object of interest could take any more damage and not end up hovering on the verge of death. Who knew what Filia would do if that were to happen, and what would Beastmaster do with him, if he took a dragon's anger too personally.

"You must have had an interesting ex?" Xellos inquired while digging his staff a little further into Val's spine and making him fall on the ground. Maybe getting to know about that person will turn out to be beneficial in a way. It was better than not knowing anything at all, anyway.

For a short moment the young dragon seemed to be contemplating whether to answer or not, but in the end he yielded the information.

"He used to f-fight for a l-living… " Val breathed heavily when Xellos had ceased applying pressure to his back. "V-very strong g-guy… h-had to quit… b-becau-se of his m-mother… "

The mazoku tilted his head do the side curiously. "Why? Did she get sick?"

"Ah-hah!" The hustler huffed out a weak laugh."Mo-re like… s-she found out… went t-to a match, a-and demanded… that he fights h-her." Val started chuckling at the memory, which caused him to cough out some more blood. "S-she beat the h-hell outta him… w-with a f-flipflop… in a ring…"

Xellos couldn't help but laugh at that. "Sounds like one hell of a woman." He grinned at the mental image of a heavily muscled man being beaten by a small middle aged woman in front of a cheering audience. That must have been a lovely sight. Shame he wasn't there to see it.

Just as he was to prod Val for more stories from his past the dragon had vanished, making his staff dig into the dirt in the spot where the hustler was lying a few seconds ago. Alarmed, Xellos turned around to locate the runaway dragon and noticed him several yards away quickly grabbing the old suitcase which he had dropped once they'd started, let's call it, fighting.

Before the mazoku could make a jump to his target, Val had vanished. It was apparent that something must have tipped him off about the location that Xellos had chosen for his interrogation.

The priest made an attempt to feel out the direction which the dragon had taken but oddly enough, there was nothing. Not a single disturbance in the fabric of physical plane that could be associated with Val.

The first thing that went through the priest's head, was that Val must have purposefully lead him to The Candy Shop if he knew how to mask his presence so well and yet chosen not to do so earlier; second, was a dawning realisation that the dragon in question must have already been in this particular field and he had somehow recognized it despite the fact that there were hundreds of large wheat fields across this part of the continent, just like this one. It was impossible to tell them apart and Xellos had chosen his current location for this specific reason.

Come to think of it, Val got all weird after he failed to slice him in half and landed on one knee in the wheat.

Xellos walked closer to the spot where the plants were parted by the dragon's blow, to take a closer look at the damage. He tilted his head left and right while he was looking down. It didn't take him long to notice a small piece of metal sticking out of the dirt in a place where Val's blade would have hit the ground, and weakly reflecting the sunlight. The item seemed to have some kind of a sign emblazoned on it but he couldn't make out what it was supposed to be because most of it was stuck in the earth.

He crouched next to it and after some digging and scratching at the dry soil, which turned out to be encompassing most of the shiny item, he managed to pull it out of the dirt. Mistyfied, he turned it around in his hand a few times.

The gold tinted metal piece appeared to be an old, squashed up cowbell, bearing a deformed emblem of an equally old settlement that used to stand there. The population wasn't large enough for it to be considered a proper town, but it was too big to be called a village. There wasn't anything exceptional about it if his memory did not fail him, and he was positive that it didn't. The maps back then marked it as Soplica and it was mostly known from exporting mass produced goods to the bigger cities. It didn't even layd on any major trading path.

He looked at the gnarled cowbell in his hand. It was a fairly boring place, until some kind of calamity had smitten it completely out of existence roughly 200 years ago…The priest stood up abruptly and tightened his grip on the cowbell to the point where it started to bend from the pressure.

Perhaps the calamity that had befallen upon that place took a shape of a dragon, he thought. But Filia had already leveled a town in front of him and she didn't seem as ashamed of it as she was over the fact that she had to get naked in order to do that. So why wouldn't she just admit that she had destroyed a town in her rage and needed to hide from humans until they forgot about it? It's not like it would bring her any more shame than sleeping with a mazoku…

Xellos stuck the metal piece into his bag, with every intention of questioning Filia about it, and looked around to see if there were any more clues laying scattered around.

Unfortunately, after an hour of walking through the fields he had only managed to find a few scorched scraps of wood, and a piece of crumbling rope.

That didn't tell him much, but such thing was to be expected. It had been how many years? 200… 208? Yes, that was about it. And the area got reworked into a wheat field, making it nearly impossible to deduce anything out of it.

The gods must have been in Val's favor today if he stumbled into a hidden clue pointing at his location pretty much in the middle of nowhere just as he hit his limit.

The mazoku frowned. Why can't the gods be on his side in this case? There was clearly something big and bad going on and he felt entitled to the information concerning it. It's one thing when he has secrets and pisses other people off by not telling them, and another thing entirely when something crucial is being kept a secret from him! It just wasn't fair!

The mazoku looked up towards the sun that hung on the western side of the sky. It would probably be for the best if he got home before Val did, otherwise Filia could set up some kind of an ambush in order to pay him back for hurting that damned drug dealer.

 _-Six hours earlier-_

Zelas was sitting on her too small bed, in her too small room. The explosions had stirred in her a bunch of emotions that not too long ago she had considered herself unable to feel.

She had been mulling about the events that led her into her current state, and thinking about the possible course of action which they would have to take in order to get the situation under control. What was happening now, was unacceptable! The balance between powers had been greatly disturbed by a party that did not belong in their conflict. Grimnir had appeared from nowhere with unclear motives and way too much power in his hands so suddenly, that she didn't even know what exactly she should plan to make it work against him.

He seemed to wield a power that was beyond even her own comprehension. How was it possible for such a creature to exist and not be noticed by anyone before he made his moves to overthrow the mazoku lords?

The riddle of Grimnir however, was not the only disturbing thought that kept occupying her mind as of late, for there was a shadow about Filia that Xellos seemed to be stupidly oblivious of.

For a brief amount of time Zelas had considered it to be a dragon disease of sorts. A new kind that confined it's victim entirely within their human and drove them mad for a short amount of time before their eventual death. Even now she wasn't entirely sure if that wasn't the case, and there was no way of finding out other than observing the dragoness, who seemed to be currently standing in front of the door to the Greater Beast's room.

"Come in; or do you plan to stand there until the dusk comes?" The Beastmaster asked.

The door handle slowly turned and Filia had reluctantly stepped into the room. She was nervous, which pleased Zelas immensely. It was hard latey to get a good amount of fear out of anyone.

"We need to talk." The dragoness stated as she stood in front of the bed that hoisted a large, frowning mazoku.

"Perhaps we do." Zelas replied and heaved a sigh. It was the best moment to have a little interrogation session with Filia and she had a few questions that she felt would require something more than just a verbal threat to get answered. And Xellos wasn't around to mess it up. She could not afford to have her only direct subordinate to fall out of service right now because of some weird sentiments that he seemed to develop through the years for that dragon.

Filia was about to state her business but she got interfered by Zelas,before she managed to voice her thoughts.

"I am intrigued by you, Filia Ul Copt." The Beastmaster admitted while staring pointedly at the dragoness in front of her. "You are bothering me greatly. Something's preventing you from changing back into your dragon form, isn't it?"

Filia was baffled by Zelas's observation. It took her a minute to compose herself before her expression darkened and she shot a glare at the mazoku. "I want you to leave this house." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

The request did not incite a desired reaction, for Zelas had only quirked her eyebrow and looked Filia over like she considered eating her.

"Letting you and Xellos stay here was a mistake." Filia continued, taking mazoku's silence as a cue to explain her sudden change of heart. She nervously sucked in some air though her teeth before speaking. "I think your presence is putting me and Val in danger. These bombs… I don't know if they were a weird coincidence or a warning. Nonetheless, you have to leave. Now."

Zelas tilted her head to the side. "I don't think I have to do anything you want me to. Don't mistake me with Xellos. I am a lord, and I serve only the Great Shabranigdo and no one else." The mazoku narrowed her eyes at Filia, and her voice bore in it a note of anger. "And I am quite sure that the bombing had nothing to do with us. You were just looking for an excuse to get rid of us and the destruction of that city had provided you with an excellent one, did it not?" She smiled maliciously when the dragoness visibly paled.

"I didn't-" Fiia started, only to be cut off by the Greater Beast.

"Don't bother denying it!" Zelas spat. "I can feel the guilt and uncertainty plaguing you! But that was to be expected from a dragon… a golden one at that." She added mockingly.

"I-I don't care what you think about it." Filia reined in her anger and shame at being so easily figured out and judged by one of the most horrible creatures of this world. "Dragons and mazoku should not live together! I shouldn't have let Val have his way. I'm sure you can see logic in this. We are not meant to coexist." She stated as firmly as she could while the mazoku in front of her kept looking at her critically.

A heavy silence hung between them after Filia was done talking. It lasted for a few minutes as they kept glaring at each other, and just as the dragoness thought it was safe to assume that she could excuse herself from the room, Zelas had appeared before her and slammed her into the wall, knocking the wind out of her.

"You don't seem to understand when I say that you're in no position to tell me what to do. I don't care whom this house belongs to, I'm going to stay here if I so desire. But no matter. There are things I wish to know and you're going to tell me everything." The Beastmaster growled as she pressed her palm onto Filia's windpipe.

The dragoness struggled against a choking grip of the Greater Beast. That was not the way their conversation was supposed to go, although, she did consider a possibility of it becoming somewhat violent. She felt her blood pounding through arteries in her head, and hear body slowly becoming numb. When she was sure that she won't be able to draw another breath again Zelas had let go of her and watched her fall to the floor.

"There is something about you. Something disturbing. And yet I can't find a way to perceive what it is." The mazoku walked to Filia's side and crouched next to her. "Something unusual is happening with you and I want to know what."

Filia coughed a few times and pulled herself off the floor, her golden hair falling around her face like a curtain. "I don't know what are you talking about." She hissed.

That response agitated Zelas even more. She grabbed the dragoness by he back of the head and slammed her face into the wooden floor hard enough to leave an indent.

"Oh I think you do." The mazoku growled and flipped Filia onto her back to look her in the eyes. " I've been observing you since I have arrived here. You don't leave this barrier, you don't speak with anyone but Val. When you have a business that needs to be taken care of outside of your barrier, you send him to do it. I bet no one knows that you're here. It's like a shadow had fallen over you. You're hiding from something, or you are hiding something from others."

Filia was breathing heavily and trying to push herself up on her elbows while blood started dripping down her forehead but Zelas had pressed her knee to the dragon maiden's chest, making her lay back down and rendering her immobile.

"Why don't you understand what I am saying to you? Has your dragon brain regressed to it's hatchling state? You can't win against me in any way, and you can't lie to me. And know, that I can't stand liars." Beastmaster brought her face closer to Filia's, and moved her hand to grab the dragon maiden's upper arm. "I told you, I'm not of the likes of Xellos. You can't play games with me to see if I'll let you win for funsies. When I'm asking you a question, you answer, and you say the truth."

So that's why Xellos was so set on following his rule of never telling a lie, Filia thought bitterly while Zelas kept tightening the grip that she kept on her arm.

"I don't know," The dragoness panted heavily. "about any shadow."

The sickening sound of bone being crushed filled the room along with Filia's agonized scream. It was then, that Lord Beastmaster felt it; a ripple spreading between the astral side and a physical one followed by Filia's body rapidly becoming colder and colder as she seemed to fade out of consciousness.

Zelas stared down at the golden dragon in her grasp, frowning in confusion. "Now this is something I have never-"

A sound of a dragon flapping his wings as he landed made her suddenly divert her attention toward the window. She could see a large golden beast arrive in a flurry of colorful leafs that were recently tossed from their branches by the winds, and switch to his human body as the glow from the transformation got reflected in the glass.

"...Milgasia… " Filia breathed out.

The mazoku whipped her head back to Filia, not bothering to hide a panicked expression on her face. "You were supposed to be the only people living here!"

"He's a friend of ours… he visits… sometimes…" Was all the dragoness was able to get out of herself. She felt like reality around her was becoming warped and the light of the day started to fade, encompassing her slowly in darkness. It was not a completely unfamiliar feeling to her and Filia prayed to the gods for the strength to fight it off. She feared of what might have happened if she went completely cold again, for she knew that this time there would be no turning back.

"Visits?" Zelas asked disbelievingly. She lifted the weight of her body from Filia's chest and stood up while still holding onto the dragoness' broken arm and pulling her along.

They both heard as the front door downstairs was hesitantly opened by the visitor and after a few seconds of silence Milgasia carefully invited himself into the cottage. He was quiet, and Zelas guessed that he must have sensed her presence in the house and decided to investigate it, perhaps thinking that his friends were in danger, which wasn't far from the truth.

The Greater Beast dragged Filia with her as she exited her room. She stopped at the top of the staircase and looked down at the golden dragon, who stood in front of it, between the stairs and an entrance to the house. He was visibly startled by the sight of one of the mazoku lords staring at him while clutching half conscious dragoness in one hand, and completely lacking the other one.

"Zelas Metallium." He choked out while struggling with his fight-or-flight response to confronting a mazoku nobility. To him, the only thing worse than Xellos, was his master and creator, who stood now way too close to him, and who was holding an injured Filia way too carelessly for the action to be taken as a first aid attempt.

The mazoku threw Filia down at the other dragon and promptly disappeared. Milgasia had immediately ran up a few stairs to catch his falling friend while Zelas appeared by the front door and locked them. She did not know if this particular golden was trained in the skill of phasing between spaces, therefore she resorted to the basic methods of keeping people confined for a time being. If she was completely honest with herself, she may have had done it because it made her feel safer.

Milgasia hoisted Filia up in his arms and looked her over hurriedly before turning his attention back to the monster. "Why are you here?" He asked, his voice wary.

"... hiding… " Filia said, dismissing Beastmaster's outraged glare.

Zelas balled her hand into a fist. "I don't owe you an explanation. Why are _you_ here?" She asked pointedly as she stood between the exit and the two dragons. "From what I know, you don't even live on this continent."

"There were reports of strange occurings. I had to consult one of the temples. On my way back I heard about the recent bombing. I got worried that Miss Filia along with Val got caught in the fire, so I decided to check up on them." Milgasia summarized. He was vague while remaining truthful which reminded her of Xellos.

Perhaps it had something to do with him coming in contact with her servant earlier. One would learn how to keep playing word games when they were forced to deal with her priest and general. Milgasia was a middle aged (for a dragon) war veteran. He obviously knew how to pick his fights and how to back out from any potential confrontations that would end up badly for him. The fact that he was still alive after Koma War was a proof on itself.

Zelas grit her teeth while contemplating on the best course of action. It would be a bad idea to fight him right now. They were supposed to be in hiding; away from the creature who is hunting the mazoku lords down, and the nearby city bombings had already called some unnecessary attention to the area. Milgasia being there was a walking, talking, breathing and annoying proof of that. On the other hand, he could still be useful.

She eyed the dragons pensively for a few seconds, and then turned her head briefly to her left, where an entrance to the kitchen was located. "Let's have a talk." The mazoku gestured at the kitchen while Milgasia tried to warm Filia up by rubbing her uninjured arm and pressing her closer to himself. He kept glancing at Zelas as she made her way to sit by the table.

There was no way he could escape her without prompting a fight, and he couldn't risk it with Filia being in that state, so he slowly followed the mazoku and took a seat on the chair by the table, on the opposite side from her. He opted to comply to her requests as much as possible and keep his questions to himself. His main goal for today was to survive and not let Zelas finish what she started with Filia.


	7. The Perturbator

I know that people don't like chapters that focus on actions of some side characters, but for the sake of the plot it had to be done.  
I wanted to update earlier but got hard-blocked with writing. But all that matters is: I keep writing.  
The next chapter will finally have a dramatic Xellos/Filia in it.  
I don't have a beta so keep that in mind.

Thanks for the comment

* * *

" _ **The bells... The bells... They're coming.**_

 _ **You need to hide.**_

 _ **Don't make a noise, and don't come out no matter what happens!"**_

* * *

Amidst snow and frozen boulders like a shadow he stood.

His black cloak was rustling around him, gently moved by dwindling eastern winds and the obsidian helmet which he wore at all times was now laying in the snow at his feet.

His long hair, so black that even the blackest of inks would appear grey next to them, were falling down his back and coming to an end at his mid-tight. And they reflected almost no light, just like the sword that he had left at the gates of Dynast's stronghold which lays in the mountains of the north.

The Northern Pole was still hidden under the blanket of night. Starry sky above him shone with the glow of northern lights which kept writhing like giant ribbons tossed by the wind.

The man who called himself Grimnir was silent as he uncorked a bottle of mead which he held in his hand. He brought the bottle up to his lips and downed half of its content without a pause. The other half he left in the bottle however; he did not put the cork back in to seal the remaining alcohol but placed it in his pocket instead.

He then walked to the nearest boulder and made sure that no one is stalking nearby, and he crouched next to it whilst putting the bottle down, in front of himself. And with a hushed yet steady voice he began chanting a spell, and slowly moving his hands above it while he waved his fingers as if he were pulling on invisible strings.

A golden light began to radiate from the bottle as he chanted:

 **On sumu to nau nakum,**

 _(My voice this vessel bears,)_

 **On nana suet anu e amal.**

 _(My command is given through it.)_

 **Zena umone ni onu nanaum,**

 _(The powers bow to my will,)_

 **Sa ik'u anne il utumau t'uai ony ni neunel.**

 _(And bring light the darkness that opposes me.)_

 **Anne t'uan alamu ile ona,**

 _(The light that dwells within me,)_

 **Som an'ak polos anu one limae.**

 _(Let it be carried by my song.)_

 **Frau ayemi t'uan ana suaka,**

 _(Strike down the walls that surround me,)_

 **An'mal monoen t'uai suet saba sem onymi malana.**

 _(Light up the path that is hidden from my eyes.)_

 **Som ut'amal ain il annae umn.**

 _(Let the shadow in light be drowned.)_

 **Som ta'al alna suata.**

 _(Let the evil be broken.)_

When he was done, he corked the bottle an swished around the alcohol within.

"This should do it." He whispered to himself.

For a few minutes he remained on his knees; unmoving. He savored the peace and silence that hung around the secluded area. But he could not stay like that for too long. He had a mazoku to hunt down, and a very cunning one at that.

The fact that Dynast knew about him and had time to prepare for a confrontation had put Grimnir at disadvantage. Slaying them quickly and without giving them a chance to gather their wits was an important part of his plan. But now the element of surprise was gone and Zelas Metallium managed to escape his blade, and by doing so she alerted the northern armies before he could make his move at them.

Now that was annoying to say the least. He did not have time to waste on skirmishes with lesser mazoku and besieging Kataart mountains.

He opened up his gloved palm and the obsidian helmet which he left in the snow a few steps away flew straight into it.

Grimnir heaved a sigh and gathered his hair into his other hand. He twisted them around his fist a few times to keep them from falling apart, and pressed them to the back of his skull as he put the helmet on. It sealed itself around his head, not letting any of the black tresses slide out. At last, he slid his hood on.

He grabbed the bottle and stood up. It was time to implement the plan which he had devised while he spoke with Garu.

The barrier that her master had set around his stronghold did not mask the presence of those who hid within it and merely shielded them. He only needed to find a way in.

Knowing that was enough to give Grimnir a good idea for what to do next.

He teleported himself a good distance away from Dynast's dwelling and walked through the snowy terrain. There was no doubt that the mazoku lord would have his spies patrolling the area. It had taken some time however, to finally spot one.

The creature was waddling through the snow on it's long, thin legs and kept turning its large beak around in search of any signs of suspicious activity. Its big round eyes were reflecting the glow of northern lights and it kept angling its tall ears towards different directions like a pair of pointy antennas. It had two wing-like arms that seemed to be covered in short but thick white fur which made it blend with the snow, like the rest of its body.

It must have been one of those, who could not project themselves unto this world and were forced to possess a living being instead. A low ranking mazoku; the weakest of their kind, and not very bright either.

He kept his distance but did not hide from it, quite the contrary; Grimnir slowed down his pace and pretended to clutch the bottle in his arms. It was his goal to get the scout to notice and follow him.

And soon enough the mazoku turned its beak in his direction, and then crouched down to hide in the snow thinking, that it had not been spotted by the black figure that seemed to be carrying something and trying to remain undetected. Positive in its assumption that the intruder had not noticed its presence, the monster carefully crawled across the snow as it was trailing after its target. It had been ordered to observe and give report of its observation but to not engage Grimnir in battle.

Information about new enemy was now the most important factor for its master.

Now, that Grimnir knew that he had the scout's attention, he walked around for a while acting as if he was avoiding getting spotted by anyone. He kept the bottle close and every few steps he paused to turn around and pretend to check if he's not being followed.

Finally after a half an hour or so, of acting suspicious and protective over a ceramic container in his arms he came to a halt next to a meager rock formation. He had decided that it will be a great location to mark the resting place of something, that someone would want to remain hidden for a time being.

Satisfied with the spot, he took a glance around him one more time to make sure that the mazoku following him was still there and after noticing its glowing eyes a good distance away, he got back to work.

The sky had clouded over and thick clumps of snow started slowly falling as he kept digging a hole in frozen dirt with his gloved hands. He took his time with making it deep and wide enough to fit the bottle and a thin layer of snow had covered his black hood and cloak.

When he was done, and the bottle had been resting in its place in the ground, hidden under a pile of snow that he had thrown on top of a mass of broken earth, he disappeared from his spot.

The creature kept lying horizontally in the snow for a while and occasionally lifting its head to have a better look at the rock formation where Grimnir buried his possession. Some time later the monster had slowly pushed itself forward with its long legs, sliding its body toward the buried bottle. Despite its less than plausible level of intelligence the creature was still smart enough to be prudent.

Who knew if the enemy would not return at any given moment?

But Grimnir had absolutely no intention of going back, for he had not gotten far from the buried alcohol and hovered high above the monster as he watched it approach the hidden bottle.

He observed the creature's ministrations with mild amusement.

It kept inching closer and closer until the rock formation was just a few steps away, then it lifted its head up and looked around one last time before getting to its feet. The monster stepped at the place where Grimnir had buried the bottle and tilted its head to the left and to to the right a few times whilst staring at the spot where snow was disturbed. Reluctantly, it crouched and began digging the bottle out with its large beak; completely oblivious of being watched.

Taking the container out of the frozen dirt did not take as much time as putting it in. Therefore a few minutes later a furry creature with a body resembling that one of a slender bird stood with a bottle half full of mead in its beak next to a small pile of rocks. And as soon as it had taken one last look at its surroundings, it disappeared.

Grimnir knew where it had gone and so he also made a jump in space, and appeared high above Dynast's mountain stronghold. He could briefly see where his sword still hung in the air, hovering a few centimeters above the snow and pointing at the mazoku lords location within the halls.

The bird-like scout on the other hand, was running through a long a wide corridor which led to its masters throne room. Its hasty steps echoed through the chilly air as it hurried to present the finding to Dynast.

Two mazoku guards who stood vigilant at the heavy door sent scrutinizing looks at the smaller creature that was approaching them. It halted in front of them, brandishing the bottle that it still held in its beak like it was the most important thing in the whole world.

"I think Scraps found something…" The tall guard who stood on the left side of the door said to the other.

"Looks like some garbage to me." Replied the second, slightly shorter guard. "Like a scrap, if you will." He laughed.

But the mazoku scout called Scraps was not amused by that comparison. It hopped in place a few times and then shook its furry white body in a manner that (in its mind) displayed urgency.

"Sucks it can't speak." Commented the first guard which made his companion frown.

"I think it's better this way. I've already heard too much stupid shit from the likes of this one. I don't want to be subjected to any more of it." The other said as he looked down on the mute creature.

"I think they're kind of funny." Defended the taller one as he tilted his head to the side. "What are you so worked up about!? It's just a bottle!" He yelled at Scraps, who stomped its leg angrily in response.

The guard who stood at the right side of the door stepped forward and tried to take the bottle out of the scouts beak but the smaller monster kept stubbornly avoiding his grasp. It turned its beak up and down, and to the sides as he reached out to grab the object, but Scraps did everything it could to prevent him from obtaining it.

Not much time later both of the mazoku guards ended up chasing after the scrawny scout. They were running in circles or across the main corridor, making it a competition of who will be the first one to wrestle the bottle from an angry Scraps.

The ruckus they caused attracted some attention from other lesser mazoku who dwelled within the walls of the stronghold. Everyone had tried their luck in catching the scout and claiming the bottle of mead for themselves, if not with intention of consuming the alcohol, then for the sole satisfaction brought by victory. And since they were low-ranking creatures of darkness, a fight had soon broke out between them as they kept trying to one up each other.

Before anyone managed to claim the item, the heavy gates to the main hall had cracked open and a short young woman who was brandishing a wooden staff covered in ice, had stepped out from behind them.

The monsters engaged in Scraps hunting had not seemed to be aware of her presence and kept running around and trashing each other as they did.

She cleared her throat a few times to bring their attention to herself but her attempts had failed. Visibly irked by their lack of respect, Garu straightened her back and tightened her grip on the staff.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

The sound of her voice had finally knocked the other mazoku out of their frenzy and they all turned their heads toward her. Despite ceasing their skirmish, they remained frozen in their battle positions: some holding the others by their necks, some had their fists and talons poised to strike, a few were gnawing at their opponents limbs, etc.

At the sight of her, teary eyed Scraps had sprinted toward their superior. It skipped around and bobbed its head to declare its joy and then shoved its bottle bearing beak at Garu to pass her the item.

"What is this?" She knitted her brows in confusion as she stared down at the contained and then back at Scraps.

The scout stomped its legs and snapped its beak a few times.

"It brought this garbage here and refused to hand it over." Said one of the guards who had previously watched over the gates and trotted back to his spot while the rest of the assembly had slowly gathered around Garu.

"It got really worked up about this piece of junk for some reason." Added the other guard as he joined the first one at his post.

"Wasn't he sent to look out for the enemy?" Garu asked not knowing which mazoku she should address at this point, since Scraps could not speak for itself. Honestly, what kind of idiot sends out a scout who cannot give a proper rapport?

The bird-like creature flapped its wings and hopped around as if it had springs attached to its legs. To everyone's confusion it suddenly stood still and straight, and it opened its large beak but made no sound. It started walking slowly instead, and turning its head like it was watching out for something from time to time.

"I think it's trying to tell us something." Someone from the group of lower class mazoku had pointed out.

"No shit, genius." Answered another voice from the crowd.

"If you're so smart, then enlighten us! Asshole!" Shouted yet another one.

"Or maybe I should just punch your brain out!? It will be easier than trying to explain it to you, nitwit!" Growled the owner of the second voice and a wave of an angry cries from the rest had erupted in the stony hallway followed by a few punches, shoves and bites.

"SHUT UP!" Garu's voice yet again had silenced the small crowd.

Scaps however had continued its theatrics and kept walking around with its beak wide open. It now also started to pretend to cardle something in its furry wings.

"Hey look!" The shorter of two guards had pointed at the creature. "It looks like its protecting something!"

That observation made Scraps hop in place and wobble its head up and down in confirmation. It did that a few more times while turning around so everyone could see (because in its mind, good manners dictated including everyone in the conversation) and then resumed its tale.

It kept walking around with its beak open and acting all protective and very suspicious of its surroundings while the others shouted their guesses which included: choking, singing, hissing, catching snowflakes in one's mouth, screaming, facial muscles' paralysis, and so on… But Garu observed it quietly.

"A spiked helmet… You saw the creature in black." She said finally and Scraps began to hop in joyous confirmation and ducking its head more violently than it did before. The crowd around them gasped loudly and began glaring at the bottle with suspicion.

It ran up to her and tapped its beak on the bottle that she was holding.

"He was carrying this?" Garu asked and the scout nodded at her.

Scraps ran to the middle of the corridor and began scratching its talons at the ground and hitting the rocky floor with its beak.

"He buried it… but you dug it out when he left and brought it to us." She said and looked back at the ceramic container in her hand. The alcohol swiveled within it with her every move. "How long ago?" She asked and took a glance at Scraps.

It ran around in a small circle and stomped its legs in satisfaction, and then snapped its beak two times.

"Two hours?" Garu asked and received an enthusiastic reply in form of hopping and head bobbing.

She slowly turned the bottle in her hands and examined its exterior but she did not find anything out of ordinary on the smooth surface. It didn't seem to bear any marks except a sticker with an expiration date and type of beverage on the bottom.

Perhaps the important part of it was its contents? Maybe Grimnir had put there something he did not wish anyone to find? Scraps did make him look very protective over the bottle after all.

Or maybe it was a trap.

Garu shook the bottle and listened, searching for some hidden item that could bring them harm and as she did so the crowd of lower ranking mazoku had leaned in to follow her example.

They looked ridiculously large when she stood next to them, for she had been Dynast's smallest and weakest creation of all. The reason for that being his battle with Lina Inverse more than two hundred years ago, which left him damaged, short of direct servants and cut off from the physical realm for a long time. And when he had finally returned, he did not have much power to spare for creating her, yet refused to remain without sufficient assistance.

So that was how she came to be. A priestess and a general who did not possess even a quarter of power that a combined title should've had granted to her.

She was no Xellos Metallium, she thought bitterly many times since heard that name and met the one who bore it.

A name that instilled fear and respect whenever spoken out loud. She saw many a mazoku cover at the sound of it, and it filled her with jealousy. What she would not give to wield such power. He was named a herald of doom for wherever he showed up, the very existence of all races was in great peril.

That turned her mind to their new enemy who had them trapped in the mountains. There was a likeness between Xellos and Grimnir, a certain smugness and poise. An attitude of someone who does not spring into action needlessly and yet cannot be stopped once they decide to act.

She swirled the alcohol within the bottle absentmindedly and the horde of monsters had stepped closer to her, wanting to take a better look at Grimnir's treasured possession.

What could possibly be so important about that bottle that he went to such lengths to hide it?

Garu reluctantly reached for the cork and the other mazoku had promptly taken a big step back.

The demons who surrounded her retreated even further and many of them squinted their eyes, waiting for something to happen. Only Scraps had scurred down the corridor and away from potential danger. It had detected the others dread and fled in fright, as any mazoku of its rank would do when their superiors show signs of unsettlement.

She grasped the cork and slowly wriggled it up until it came out with a distinctive pop.

Nothing happened.

The crowd gave out a collective sigh of relief and they all stepped closer to their superior again. Then one of the mazoku laughed, saying: "It seems this guy has some problems with alcohol! He was probably just hiding his mead from his wife!"

A wave of giggles followed by some snide remarks had went through the group. Even Garu shook her head at the item in her hand. It seemed that Grimnir did not hold as much poise as Xellos Metallium after all. It was rather the opposite; the bottle only proved that he was most likely a very powerful human sorcerer who got his hands on some magical artefact from the times of Koma War and decided to pull off a Lina Inverse.

How disappointing, she thought and turned the bottle upside down, letting the contents spill on the floor.

It exploded in a flash of burning light as an incantation sounded from within it like a thunder that shook the floors and walls. The spell not only blinded and scorched her but also wiped out all the mazoku who stood near her, and its light spread through the entire stronghold like a golden bubble that penetrated the solid rock that sheltered them.

She hid her face in her hands instinctively and stumbled backwards until she hit a wall.

"That bastard!" Garu groaned and rubbed her eyes. "He hid a spell at the bottom…"

Her body was still aching from the burn and her vision was blurry, but she could perceive that all who were present when she opened the bottle had been eradicated. The corridor seemed to be free of monsters save herself and she had to admit; that was one hell of a spell.

She was about to hurry back to her master and update him about the situation (although he probably already guessed what was going on) when a pair of black gloved hands had grasped her upper arms. Garu momentarily froze in terror.

The "wall" behind her shifted slightly.

"You're shorter than I thought." Came a deformed voice from above her head.

She jumped away and turned to face the intruder. For a moment her mind went blank and she didn't know what to say, so she just stared at him with wide eyes.

His presence felt incredibly unsettling to her, but it surprised her that she could not tell that he was inside the stronghold up until he spoke. She was leaning on him and didn't even notice that he was there!

Grimnir took a step toward her and she backed away, tightening a hold on her staff. "Y-you're surrounded!" She shouted the first thing that came to her mind.

The dark figure made a show of taking a look around. "Really? How troublesome." He said and took another step ahead.

Garu felt like she was staring into the void, which was staring right back at her. She readied herself for a fight. There was no way that she would let him go straight to her master unchallenged.

But before anything happened between them a deep rumble came from the main chamber and the ground shook with heavy steps before the stone gates were busted open and Dynast himself stomped into the corridor.

He was incredibly large and his body looked like it was shrouded by an armor of wrought out of shadow itself. His big round eyes flashed with anger when his gaze landed on Grimnir, who did not yet bothered to acknowledge his presence.

"YOU!" The lord shouted as he pointed his clawed gauntlet at the intruder.

"Surprise." Grimnir deadpanned without as much as turning around to face him.

Dynast, despite his anger, withdrew his hand and flexed his fingers as he tilted his head to the right in contemplation. "Why are you attacking us?" He finally asked through gritted teeth.

Garu, who stood silent had now withdrawn to stand behind her master. She opted to observe their interaction from a distance reasoning to herself that she did not wish to get in their way once they'll start fighting, and she knew that they will.

"Why?" Echoed the figure in black. "Because you're in my way. Now, do you want a time out to report to Lei Magnus (if he still calls himself by that name); or will you send someone to do it for you?"

The large mazoku narrowed his eyes and balled up his fists. He huffed like a rabid bull that just saw a red cloth.

Grimnir finally turned toward him. "Don't look at me like that. Do you think I don't know, that if it wasn't for him, you would have faced me at the gates of your fortress when I first came here?"

They started slowly circling around each other without breaking eye contact; or as much as staring at a spot on an opaque headgear where the eyes should be could be described as such.

"You were lucky back then, but luck does not equal wisdom. If you think that you can win against me that makes you truly backwards in the head, _Perturbator_!" Dynast spat the last word as if it on itself would cause damage to his opponent.

"Is this how you call me? To be completely honest, I'm flattered. I never thought you would openly admit that you find my presence perturbing." Grimnir put his hand over his chest.

"Your _actions_ are perturbing! Not YOU!" The monster bellowed in anger, finding the comment incredibly offensive. Accusation of fear was one of the greatest ways to insult a mazoku.

"But are people not defined by their actions? Moreover, don't you know me only from what little you heard about what I did so far?" Remarked the intruder. He was walking in a slow stride making no move otherwise to strike the monster across him.

Dynast had so far tried to not give in to his temper, but the others attitude made it nearly impossible to not attack him in blind rage. It was incredibly insolent of that black creature to show up at his doorstep and act like it was within his right to simply stand there and tell his strongest subordinate to pledge her loyalty to him. Like he didn't care about the one whom she served; like he thought that she would just deem Grimnir superior!

And he had the nerve, to point his sword at him and leave it like that!?

But there was also the undeniable fact that this "man" (if he even can be called like that), had somehow destroyed the other two lords whose power was supposed to be uncontested, just like Dynast's own. And that incredibly unsettling aura that surrounded him made the mazoku rein his battle impulses.

He was not used to feeling this way about anything.

He'd been also instructed to not engage this stranger in battle, but to try to learn about him as much as possible. Unfortunately, straying from fight with Grimnir had turned out to be impossible as he was very obviously trying to start one.

The mazoku growled loudly and his priestess, who stood a fair distance behind him, took a few more steps back.

"Don't you want to smite me? You seem so _tame_." Grimnir sneered as he leaned slightly in direction of the fuming monster.

The word "tame" was what had really gotten to break Dynast's already dwindling hold on his rage.

"DRAW YOUR SWORD!" He roared and took a step forward so fiercely that the rock floor beneath his foot had cracked in half and the walls trembled with the magnitude of his voice.

"Uhm… No." Grimnir stated as if he were just asked if he'd like any additional toppings on his ice cream bowl by a waitress in a restaurant.

The monster froze and looked at him with round, twitching eyes. "..what did you say?" He whispered dangerously and the temperature in the corridor had dropped considerably.

"I'm not taking orders from the likes of you." Replied the perturbator as he shifted his weight from one leg to another while looking up at Dynast.

The silence that hung between them as they stood there, unmoving, was so heavy that even Garu wanted to run and hide before the storm of battle had a chance to hit her. No rapport of Grimnir's abilities had been given by the surviving mazoku from the Demon Sea and Wolfpack Island, who came to them seeking guidance. None who stood close to the final battles had survived. Still, she could not see anything remarkable about this person beside his ability to cast ancient spells and an air of anxiety that hung around him.

But obviously there was something else, something that could not be seen nor felt. Otherwise he would not win against such a powerful pair of mazoku.

"Garu…" Grimnir said.

The priestess' head snapped toward him and her brows knitted in confusion.

"Take my time." He added without looking at her.

That knocked Dynast out of his insolence induced short-circuiting and back into a state more or less adequate to process reality.

"Don't go around giving orders to _my_ subordinates!" He bellowed and swung his fist at the intruder. He was lightning fast despite his incredible bulk but Grimnir was able to dodge the blow.

The mazoku buried his dark fist in the wall instead and the rock that the corridor was wrought out of, had instantly frozen upon contact. It didn't take long for him to locate his opponent for the figure in black had appeared right next to his head and aimed a kick between his eyes. Dynast blocked it, but the sheer force of the kick had threw him to the side.

"Well. I'm going to have a better use of her than you, so I'm taking her. Besides, you won't need her for much longer." Grimnir gibed as he charged at the mazoku and aimed a punch at his metatarsals.

The other had quickly moved his leg away while blasting a freezing ray at his attacker. He choose to keep his distance in case the perturbator decided to finally draw his sword when Dynast expected it last. What kind of fool refuses to use their weapon when faced with someone of his power? Unless, there was a reason for it.

Grimnir kept avoiding getting hit while trying to get closer to his target but when he teleported around the monster to hit at his blind spot Dynast had suddenly spun around and landed a blow that knocked him into the wall. The mazoku did not wait for him to strike back and threw another punch at him, but he managed to phase out at the last second.

He appeared next to him and swayed on his legs. There was a dent in his mask that revealed one dark blue eye that gleamed in the dim light of the cold corridor. A gold eyelid binked over it as its owner tried to regain focus in his vision.

Dynast aimed another freezing ray at him, attempting to immobilize him permanently but to his annoyance, Grimnir had swiftly evaded the blasts.

What an annoying pest, the mazoku thought. But not as scary as he seems to be painting himself to be after all. He added with a tinge of satisfaction.

He puffed up his shadow veiled chest and took a step toward him saying: "Maybe you should have had listened to me, when I told you to draw your swo-" He didn't get to finish his sentence, because a black slender blade got buried in his back and brutally tore through him until it busted out of the front of his upper body and flew straight into Grimnirs open palm.

The intruder twirled his sword in his gloved hand, one blue eye scanned the handle that looked like a rope covered in tar with a large knot at the end, which served as a pommel.

"Well, you asked for it, so here it is." Grimnir said and directed his gaze back to the monster who doubled over and fell to his knees.

Dynast's back was frantically rising and falling with every breath he took as he clutched the wound on his chest. In a frenzy of bewilderment and anger he noted that he was not dying. But there was another feeling that rose within him, a feeling with which he was very familiar, and which he detested with every fiber of his being.

He was trapped within his body, _again._

It must have been that swords ability!

The rage that filled him in that moment had no bounds. His previous defeat in battle against Lina Inverse had come back to him in a flashback. He lost, against a _human_! And now it's happening once more!

He started grinding his teeth and growling like a wild animal. The sensation of being bolted into physical plane had confused his senses and rendered him immobile.

Grimnir appeared above him, blade raised high and ready to slice through his neck and relieve him of his head. This time Dynast knew, that the wound would be mortal for he was not merely cut off from his astral body, but entirely fixed to the physical one.

The black gloved hands tensed on the handle and their owner was about to strike with all his might but he suddenly froze and his head whipped up and to the side, like a dog reacting to a whistle. His arms slumped and he seemed to be listening to something.

"Amarna…" Grimnir said in a barely audible whisper.

Meanwhile Dynast managed to partially come to his senses and used the sudden moment of distraction against his opponent to turn around and grab the black figure. He slammed the intruder into the ground as a ray of lightning struck from the sky above the mountain peak and charged through the monster who directed it right at the creature he held pinned to the floor.

Grimnir let out a pained scream while his body tensed up and his muscles quivered from shock, but he did not let go of his sword. The fabric of his clothes began to smoke and so did the skin underneath. When he finally went silent, Dynast had let go of him and stood up.

The mazoku found the sight, and everything that led to it, incredibly satisfying. He finally had met an interesting opponent, and had a chance to torture him to death after many years of dwindling on the astral plane and then keeping idle in a frozen mountain. The condition it put him in though, was an annoying one, but there was a high chance that the piece of Shabranigdo that also resided in the mountains, would know how to fix it.

He walked across the broken floor and over the scorched body embedded into it. It was time to see his superior and brag about today's victory over the unexpected menace. Now this would also place him as the sole immediate subordinate of Shabranigdo and the only mazoku who held undisputed authority over all monsters across the world.

And that was something to be happy about.

"Farewell, Perturbator Grimnir." He threw sarcastically over his shoulder and walked toward Garu, who stood by the door to the main hall.

He stopped abruptly when he heard a song coming from Grimnir's direction. For a moment he thought that it's a spell but when nothing happened he dismissed that speculation.

It sounded like a lament sung in a language he could not understand, tearing through air and seeping through the stony walls of the mountain. The voice that sung it bore no sign of strain nor did it stutter or broke in any way, but it pierced through the physical plane with such clarity that its echo could have been heard even on the astral side of existence, carried by the sea of chaos through time and space.

It almost struck Dynast off balance.

"It would have been better for you, if you kept playing dead." The mazoku hissed as he turned around to finish off what they started.

"How could I let myself just lay there, when I'm being called out in such a grievous manner?" Grimnir replied glumly.

"Called out? Who calls you?" Dynast wondered aloud.

"That's none of your concern." The other replied before he started pulling himself out of the floor.

His black cloak was torn and his black pants and gray coat were ripped and burned, revealing bits of dark gray flesh branded by a black, lightning patterns that were fading rapidly. It seemed that his body did not sustain much damage, but it was visible through all the tears and cuts in his clothes that it also had the ability to heal itself, fast.

"I don't think so. Anything that has a connection to you, concerns me greatly." The monster admitted. And while he spoke, the ground underneath him began to freeze.

Grimnir stood up on wobbly legs and stumbled a few times when he tried to approach his opponent. He took a deep breath and groaned as he straightened his back.

"Of course a coward like you would say something like that." The man in black stated like it was a fact known by everyone, everywhere.

The walls around them froze rapidly and Dynast grit his teeth in wrath.

"You're dead!" He growled and an ice spear had grew in his hand. He launched it at Grimnir who disappeared and showed at his feet, and slashed at his left tendon above the heel. But the mazoku had quickly kicked his leg forward and avoided the cut that would make him unable to stand on his left leg.

He spun around on his right foot instead and tried to step on the menace, but his move did not bring desired results because Grimnir had jumped away and took a few steps back.

"That may be true. You see, I already got hanged once!" The Perturbator exclaimed, sounding like he was blaming Dynast for it. He revealed a dark scar that ran across his neck and was, so far, hidden under his tall grey collar.

A dark blue eye was now scanning Dynast's frame, looking for an opening and devising a plan of action. All he needed was just one more blow and this fight would be over.

Across him an angry monster seemed to be doing the same thing as ha paced around. His slow gait indicated that he was ready to spring at his target at any given moment.

Dynast made another spear and charged at Grimnir. He thrust the ice forward, aiming at the other's chest but his blow was parred by a black blade. The spear cracked upon impact but had not yet fallen apart and the mazoku refroze it in his grip.

They spared like that for a short amount of time, stepping carefully around each other and avoiding getting hit. But Grimnir's leg had slipped on the frozen floor and he failed to dodge the spear.

The black figure fell to the ground; his shoulder impaled with a thick, cold ice and he groaned in pain. The area where his skin met the ice had quickly started to freeze.

Grimnir lifted his sword when the mazoku had taken a step toward him and secretly aimed his free hand, which was covered by his torn cloak, at Dynast's knee.

" _Bomb Di Wind!_ " He cried out and a blast of highly compressed air had tore through monster's leg, toppling the large body forward. The blow was dealt with such fierceness, that the mazoku had no time to extend his hands and catch himself before falling completely on top of his opponent.

And so Dynast Grausherra fell face first on Grimnir's sword, impaling his cranium onto the black blade.

He tried, and failed to spit out a few incoherent words as his great eye locked with a dark blue one, from which it was separated by only a few centimeters while his body started convulsing.

The gloved hand that held a black handle twisted the blade and slashed through monster's skull, ending his life and freeling the sword from its prey.

Garu stood several yards away wide eyed, and with her back pushed against the door, and stared the scene before her.

This could not be happening! Her master could not be defeated like that! It was simply impossible; she thought frantically while she stared at Dynast's dead body.

She was surprised by the fact that it did not disintegrate but kept lying there like a corpse of some mortal creature, which was another abnormal thing about the entire situation.

Grimnir's frustrated groan had shaken her out of her panicked state and she watched as he crawled from under her master and cast a _recovery_ spell on his frostbitten shoulder. He proceeded to climb on Dynast's head to take a seat on it and as he did so, he sank his sword in it once again.

The weapon seemed to be seeping Dynast's miasma out of his corpse. Slowly, parts of the shadowy armor began to crumble and melt into a dark matter that swam in little streams across the dead mazoku and into the blade embedded into him.

Garu saw as Grimnir opened the lower part of his helmet by pulling it down like a second jaw and then placed a cigarette between his dark gray lips. He murmured a small fire spell into existence to lit it up and after that was done he just kept sitting there, and twisting the blade absentmindedly inside her master's skull.

Finally, his dark blue eye landed on her.

"Well?" He turned toward her.

"Huh?" The priestess tensed up and tightened her grip on her staff.

"Did you took my time, like I asked you to?" Grimnir reminded her sounding expectant.

"I do not serve you!" She yelled in anger and struck the floor with the frozen staff, but she did not dare approach him.

"Still not serving me?" He asked disbelievingly. "I could really use your help right now, _and_ I killed your master." The dark figure pointed out.

"I am loyal to my race, and I have no reason to join you." Garu stated, trying to sound as proud as she could.

"Lei Magnus, of course. As long as he prevails you will have to follow his will." Grimnir grumbled solemnly.

There was truth in that statement and she didn't need to hide it. Now, that Dynast was dead, she was the immediate servant of one of the seven pieces of Shabranigdo, the master of all mazoku who is at the top of their hierarchy. She could already feel a pull of his summon.

"I'm not going to waste my time on you." She said and readied herself to phase into the main chamber of the Lord of Lords to speak about what had taken place in front of her.

"Yes… you can go. So long, Garu. Tell him that I'm coming." He replied dismissively while she disappeared.

He did not get to see the look in her eyes when she heard him say that she was permitted to go. But he did notice, even from the distance, the numbers scratched onto the heavy gate where she stood.

 **22m 57s**

Grimnir hummed and tilted his head to the side.

Not a very good time, he thought and finished his cigarette.

He turned his head to the other side and looked into a pair of round eyes gleaming far away, within the darkness of the corridor.

"Look at what you did." The man in black patted the corpse he was sitting on as he stared at the scavenger who had brought his enchanted bottle within the walls of Dynast's barrier.

Scraps only blinked and scurred away in fear again.

It saw everything! It saw everything! The others didn't!

And it had regretted witnessing the battle very much.


	8. Don't Kiss Me I'm Scared

It's a kinda frantic chapter.  
I've tried not to get into too many details regarding Milgasia's conversation with Zelas.  
I has approx 6,6k words.  
I think this is the chapter where the true drama is starting to come out.

* * *

Milgasia had been sitting by the table and holding trembling Filia in his arms, he'd been forced to place his heart shaped key to her barrier in the hand of the mazoku in front of him.

As the mood became more grim he kept wondering about Val's whereabouts and fate, taking into consideration worst case scenarios. The current condition that Filia was in had also bothered him greatly, but he could not let Zelas find out about the truth behind it.

It was the dragoness' wish for happenings of the past as well as her "illness" to remain hidden; especially from Xellos and his master. Who would have known what these two would do if they found out?

Now, peace was the most important factor for her wellbeing. Peace and affection, _which she was not getting!_ Val was supposed to be watching over her! He took an oath to look after her and to- to….

The Golden dragon grit his teeth in frustration, an action which did not go unnoticed by Beastmaster.

"You're unhappy." She smiled as she leaned back on her too small chair.

"I think that anyone in my situation would be." He answered bitterly while not taking his eyes off of her.

"You are clutching her as if she were to fall apart if you relaxed your hold." Observed The Greater Beast. She was scrutinizing him and Filia from the other side of the table, with predatory gleam lighting up her eyes.

The late afternoon sun got slowly covered by a bunch of large, grey clouds and the normally warm and cheery kitchen of Filia's wooden cottage became gloomy and dark. Tension hung in the air like a heavy autumn mist and it seemed to put Zelas into a far better mood than she was in before.

When Milgasia did not provide an immediate answer to her jab, she suddenly slammed her open palm on the surface of the table. But he did not jump in his seat, nor cower like she thought he would do, he only flinched slightly and took a sharp breath.

"Answer my question." She growled.

"I… You hurt her. I think it's pretty obvious why I'm more content with holding her close and tight." The dragon said stiffly. He tried to avoid providing her with any information regarding the state which the dragoness was currently in, by putting the blame on Beastmaster's doings. It wasn't the best tactic but it was better than nothing.

"You think?" Zelas lifted one eyebrow at him and after taking some time to think in silence, she decided to change her approach. "Fine. How about we change the topic?"

"As you wish." He nodded slightly and his golden fringe had rocked back and forth.

"I want to know how the situation with lesser mazoku looks like. Many of them are leaderless now, I assume. But as long as Dynast is alive, they should obey his will. Nonetheless I want to know if you have any information about our current position." She summarized as she drummed her nails against the wooden planks of the table.

Milgasia looked thoughtful for a while, carefully choosing his words, and then presented Zelas with what he hoped was a sufficient amount of intel that his race gathered during the past several days regarding their outlook on mazoku front.

It was mostly as she predicted. The lower class demons were scattered around their bases without much guidance. But they did not seem keen to leave their territories, or to start fighting amongst themself as they are wont to do when there is no one to keep them in ranks.

The Greater Beast leaned forward. "And what do you know about the man in a black mask? He wields a weird black sword and possesses more power than a mortal should." She inquired.

Filia shuddered in her friend's arms and he could feel her body temperature start to drop again. It seemed that she didn't like the way in which Zelas was questioning him. It was obviously an attempt to catch him telling a lie or making an incoherent statement. The mazoku was onto it and that made Filia's anxiety levels skyrocket, making her fall further into darkness.

"I think… that, I might have heard about someone similar to whom you've mentioned." The Golden dragon confessed while risking a glance at the dragoness he was holding. "I've heard about a wraith of a man who had been hung some hundreds years ago (I don't know specifically how many). It was said that he was punished unjustly and is now seeking revenge on his judges. He's supposed to be wearing some kind of black mask, mind you."

"And what about the sword?" Zelas asked with some interest.

"I can't say with certainty that he had any sword with him." The dragon looked back at her.

When they sat across the table, staring into each other's eyes in silence, a few raindrops had fallen on the window of the kitchen. Their surroundings had gotten even more gloomy as the rainfall began to slowly increase. The fire in the hearth was dead and only a few lone, charred pieces of wood pulsed dimly with a few last sparks of heat that managed to survive sometime after the flames were gone.

Beastmaster took a deep breath.

"Who had you learnt about it from?" She questioned further.

Milgasia rubbed Filia's cold arm and adjusted her so she was sitting on his lap, with her head laying on his shoulder, rather than hanging limply in his arms.

"Some dragons of this continent had told me. I've been on quite a few delegations since the Eastern barrier had fallen." He replied truthfully.

The story about a vengeful wraith did not sound entirely convincing to Zelas but on the other hand, she didn't find much to complain about aside from a lack of any mentions of the sword. He worded it in a way that easily gave him an opportunity to blame any shortcomings on his sources.

It was fascinating how much dragons tended to resemble mazoku, especially when they tried not to.

Zelas snorted.

"Is something wrong?" Milgasia asked, alerted by her sudden display of amusement.

The Greater Beast tilted her head to the side in contemplation. "Yes." She said. "Everything is wrong. Perhaps not entirely with the story you just told me, but overall? I have to admit, that we are in big trouble; you and I."

He frowned in confusion. Phrases like 'trouble' combined with 'you and I' did not forebode a bright future. He knew for a fact that if Zelas was able to admit in front of him that she had a large problem which somehow also involved him, then there was no way for him to leave this place either alive or without getting directly tied to a great evil.

"You see," She continued. "If _something_ is capable of walking around and killing Demon Lords, and seems to be doing it without any regard for any consequences, that meant there's no guarantee that it will leave the dragon race alone."

Milgasia rubbed lightly Filia's arm and looked toward the window, mulling over the monster's words. If the masked figure who trashed mazoku hierarchy was indeed who he thought he was, then dragons in general seemed very unlikely to be under any immediate threat. But there was a possibility, albeit small, that the person he was thinking about did plan some interference into his community. That… _man,_ was not a very reasonable individual when it came to certain matters…

He remembered the phrase _Peek-a-boo ugly fucks!'_ up to this very day and it haunted him with an unsettling frequency.

The dragon cringed at the memory and looked down at Filia when he felt her squirm on his lap.

She was present enough to process the conversation that was taking place in her kitchen, but not yet able to participate in it. However her reaction to Beastmaster's accusations was a good sign that she was slowly recovering from her breakdown.

Hopefully she will soon be in sufficient condition to either run or hide, or both. He only wished that he could heal her arm before his encounter with Zelas ended up with a fight.

The Greater Beast kept talking. "It may turn out, that in very near future your kind will find themselves under attack from some shady figure with too much power at his disposal. And since he was able to do something like this-" Zelas moved around what was left of her upper arm. "-then you might want to consider forming a temporary alliance."

The proposal struck Milgasia a little off guard.

"An alliance… with you." He said disbelievingly. "What if I refuse?"

"I'll break her other arm." The mazoku nodded at Filia. "But you won't be so lucky. I don't need _you_ alive." She added with a dangerous smirk stretching her lips and revealing a missing front tooth on the left side of her upper jaw.

He very much wanted to walk out of this situation alive but forming an alliance with a mazoku seemed to him like an absurd idea. Nonetheless, there was no other way for now so he nodded in agreement and listened to what the monster had to offer.

After she spent some time on sugarcoating her intentions as well as avoiding answering perfectly reasonable questions like: _What if we won't get attacked after all?_ and _What if we will get attacked and win? What will we do with each other afterwards?_ some things became perfectly clear.

First of all: Zelas wanted to have control over an army of dragons, or at least a pretty big part of it; second: She demanded access to their intel; third: Inclusion in meetings of their elders; and fourth: she wanted to share a living space amongst them.

All of those terms were ridiculous and would open for her a way to utterly destroy them all within a day.

In return she was supposed to provide them with support in form of her own power and knowledge.

During her speech Filia's state had worsened a fraction. Milgasia suspected that the pain of her broken humerus was preventing her from getting better. He knew that she wasn't exactly ill, but she did suffer from an unusual condition that was extremely dangerous in consequences.

"I… don't think I can grant all of your wishes." He admitted hesitantly.

Beastmaster had not been happy to hear that. She did not yet resort to threats however, but questioned his reasons for presenting her with such answer. All his replies seemed to not satisfy her, and so they kept exchanging words, and sometimes twisting the meaning behind them. She tried as she could to bend his will to her own.

The time went by and rain was falling steadily from the grey clouds above the forest. It kept tapping softly against the wooden walls, and cold glass of the windows. The temperature in the cottage had dropped a few degrees and Milgasia could feel Filia shiver, but Zelas had kept him from getting the fire going in the hearth that stood behind him.

At that point the dragoness in his arms had gotten colder and less alert, and he was reminded how treacherous her condition could be. He knew that if she won't get warmed up and have her arm fixed soon, the consequences will be dire but he could not tell the mazoku about that.

"Is Xellos here?" He wondered aloud.

As if on cue, Xellos had showed up kneeling by his master's side and dutifully reciting his greetings.

Zelas looked down at him and gave him an order to rise. When he did so, his gaze briefly landed on Milgasia before he did a double take at Filia who was still half lying on his lap and trembling.

"What are you doing! ...here?!" The priest exclaimed, masking rather poorly his irritation at seeing the two dragons in such a compromising position.

The Greater Beast appeared to be entertained by her subordinate's reaction. It wasn't very often when she had an opportunity to see him get this worked up about something, or someone. She watched as he tightened his grip on his staff and grit his teeth while glaring at Milgasia.

There was nothing better than people getting a wrong idea. The only downside to it was that Xellos wasn't supposed to be that stupid and attachment that he developed toward Filia became bothersome quite a while ago. But it was still pretty funny at times.

Milgasia on the other hand was simultaneously panicked and curious. He noticed the black scars that marred the left side of Xellos's face and could not help but wonder about them. Then his gaze was caught by the silver heart shaped pendant that Filia gave only those whom she deemed trustworthy. It hung on mazoku's neck, tied to a leather string and gleaming softly in the dim light that came from the window.

"The two of you are friends, I believe?" Zelas chirped while she pretended to check her nails.

"OH YES!" Xellos squawked almost hysterically. His upper lip twitched as he smiled, revealing a set of fangs any self-respecting dragon would be jealous of. "I was just wondering what on earth would you be doing in a place like this, Mister Milgasia?"

"He's a _friend_ of your friend." Beastmaster stated pointedly while the dragon tried to say something in his defense.

Milgasia knew that Filia had feelings for Xellos but she was fairly reasonable with handling them, what he did not know (and would never believe if he didn't see it with his own two eyes), was that the Priest was very obviously harboring some attachment to her as well. It was quite obvious that the mazoku was very displeased by the sight of Miss Ul Copt being cradled in a male dragon's lap. And Zelas seemed to think it amusing to drive her subordinate's ill placed anger even higher.

"A fri-! How come you two know each other? You don't even live on this continent." The lesser monster asked incredulously.

Xellos didn't know what came over him. It was just that, at one moment her was getting bamboozled by Val and about to report it to his master, and at the other Milgasia was there with half-conscious Filia on his lap like- like they were… _something_! For some reason that really got on his nerves. That old bastard was holding her and all!

… half conscious?

"I was just-" The older dragon was about to explain.

Xelos opened his eyes. "What's wrong with her?" He whispered as he took in her appearance.

"That's what I wanted to know." Beastmaster supplied while faking a concerned expression as best as she could.

The Priest looked back at her with in confusion.

"He doesn't want to tell." She added and her subordinate turned his eyes back to the dragon who sat by the farther end of the table, and glared at him feverently.

" _What_ is happening with her, Mister Milgasia?" The Priest took a step toward his old acquaintance but his master had stopped him from advancing at the dragon by grabbing an edge of his cape.

"We won't learn anything if you will maul him right now." Zelas said.

Xellos halted and stared at Filia as if he would learn anything about her condition just by looking at her for a long time. It was all very odd to him, and a sudden shift from a sunny field to a grim kitchen made him feel somehow out of place. Like he's just entered a different dimension, or like a mortal would say: just woke up from a dream and had to face a depressing reality.

He tilted his head to the side and frowned.

"She's in pain… " The Priest noticed.

"Because of your master, I didn't do anything to her." Milgasia said warily.

"That's what one gets for being disrespectful!" The Greater Beast snapped. "She had the gall to come up to me and demand of me to leave this place!" She banged her fist on the table.

The dragon reclined in his chair and adjusted his hold on Filia in case he'll have to make a run for it with her still in his arms. He could try to transform but he didn't know how far that would get him.

But Xellos remained in place. He did not flinch nor turned to look at his master.

"I see." He deadpanned and took a step back. No matter what, Zelas and her judgment has to come first. It was always this way and always should be.

Nonetheless his discomfort caused by knowing that his master had harmed Filia did not lessen. It was already bad enough that he cared about the dragoness in ways that were very unhealthy for him, but if he started acting on those self-destructive impulses, their situation would worsen significantly. Beastmaster was also not faring too well after the attack and she did not seem willing to rein her temper as per usual.

Zelas appeared to be satisfied by her subordinate's reaction. She could not tell how Xellos would respond to her inflicting harm upon his dragon but today's confrontation had proven that his deviation was not as bad as it looked.

While Xellos stood by his master's side and kept his eyes trained on Filia, the other dragon could see clearly the look on Beastmaster's face. Milgasia knew then, that The Greater Beast is treating her subordinate with more hesitation than someone like her should.

A mazoku's power and influence upon others depended on how it perceives itself. If she harbored any fear toward a monster who's supposed to be lesser than her, then it only meant that her power had diminished so greatly that she was at risk of being destroyed by her own kind.

So that's why she's trying to ally herself with dragons, Milgasia thought.

Filia shivered again and she turned her head slightly to take a look around. When she saw Xellos she sighed and turned back the dragon who held her, and buried her face in his shoulder.

"How about we resume our previous conversation?" Zelas suggested and was about to threaten her captive with death and torture when she was interrupted by her subordinate.

"Perhaps I should relieve Mister Milgasia of his burden? If he doesn't want to tell us what is wrong with Filia, then maybe I would be able to learn it by myself? Her barrier depends on her power and it would be most unfortunate for us to lose her." The Priest suggested. He was visibly irked by Filias reaction to seeing him.

Beastmaster contemplated the request for a while. She wanted to watch Xellos getting jealous and angry some more but his idea had a portion of sense in it. Also, Milgasia was less likely to try to run without Filia. She knew that he would think twice before leaving his friend in clutches of his worst nightmare.

She took a glance at the Priest who stood still and kept a fake, thin smile on his face. He clearly wasn't even trying to hide his displeasure.

"Sounds good to me. You may take her." Zelas commanded, her voice low.

Milgasia didn't like the way she phrased her answer. The word 'take' could have a lot of meanings when it came to a situation they were in. During the time when Xellos came back from whatever he was doing before he appeared in the cottage, the dragon had noticed a disturbing amount of interest that he'd been showing in Filia. Apparently Zelas had seen it too and fully intended to make use of it.

He watched as the lesser monster strode toward him.

"I don't think this is a good idea." Milgasia said. "She need warmth and affection." He looked pointedly at Xellos, who scowled back at him.

The Priest lowered himself so the tips of their noses nearly touched. "And you think that you can give her _those_?" He spat with such venom that even Zelas winced behind his back.

"I just don't think that a mazoku can." The dragon replied. Such words may have costed him his life in any other circumstances but it seemed that having Filia between them resulted with the monster merely glaring daggers at him.

Xellos reached for the dragoness but she only flinched and reclined from him as much as she could. Her face was fully hidden in fabric of Milgasia's tunic and she pushed her knees to her chest curled up against him. She was holding onto his clothes with her unharmed hand.

"Leave me alone." She whispered with a hoarse voice.

That made something within the mazoku crumble. He knit his brows together in anger and confusion as he stared down at her. He was at loss and he hated it, so he did what a monster like him would do.

"Come to me, or I'll kill him." Xellos threatened.

Filia shuddered and then her hand had loosened its hold on her friend. The monster quickly took hold of her and lifted her up in his arms. He walked back to his master's side.

"Permission to take her to her room?" The Priest asked with w nod at Zelas.

"Hmm… Granted." She answered without taking her eyes off Milgasia.

The dragon who sat across her clenched his fists and stared at Xellos in fear, not for himself but for the dragoness whom was being carried out of his sight. The mazoku turned his head briefly and smirked before he walked through the doorframe into the narrow corridor and invited himself to a room that stood across the kitchen.

Filia's door were parallel to the entrance to her kitchen and were placed next to the staircase that led to the second floor of her cottage. And as soon as they were alone the mazoku's shoulders slumped and he tightened his hold on her.

"What have you done?" He whispered breathlessly but no answer came from Filia. The only thing that could be heard was a sound of rain tapping against the windows.

She fixed her gaze at a faraway point and refused to look at him. What was worse, he could feel her pain and he found that for some reason it was choking him. There was nothing satisfying about it, only a heavy void. She also seemed lighter and colder like her very soul was leaving her own body.

Without further ado he walked toward the bed, which stood at his left, and as he passed the nightstand an oil lamp that stood on it had lit up, bathing them in a warm orange glow.

He placed her on an embroidered sheets and then sat on the edge of the mattress. His hand was on a pillow, next to her head and he leaned on it while he kept staring down at her.

"You shouldn't have gone to my master when I wasn't around." Xellos finally said and she only grit her teeth. He already noticed that there was something wrong with her; something that disconnected her from reality in a way, but he couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was.

"Get out. Leave me alone." Filia finally choked out but as soon as she's done that, her eyes rolled back and she let out a strangled gasp as her back arched and nails dug into the mattress.

It didn't last long but when her muscles relaxed and her body fell back down it seemed to Xellos that she had gotten colder. He kept sitting by her side, perplexed and confused by the sudden attack. His eyes were wide open and he could see that her pupils had constricted and widened rapidly before coming back to normal.

He impulsively placed his palm on the side of her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"What's happening with you?" Xellos asked completely mystified. He couldn't find within her any definitive source for such a violent reaction.

His gaze traveled down to her broken and bruised arm and then back to her eyes.

"Fix it?" He asked, uncertain if she would be able to heal herself.

She only grimaced and turned her head to the side.

"Where's Val?" Filia asked.

Xellos was asking himself the very same question. Where did that annoying bastard could possibly hide? That ancient moron probably knew what was wrong with Filia and how to make it better. But no matter how hard he concentrated, he just couldn't locate Val's whereabouts. It was possible that the dragon in question had fainted somewhere due to all the damage that he took while they were having their 'conversation'. But Val did seem like the kind of person who can take a beating like that. He's proven it in that field.

"Who knows…? I lost him on the way back." He said, opting out of telling her the whole truth. It was more convenient for him to wait until Val comes back and give her a whole account. That may be quite entertaining actually.

Unless she'll fall into a coma.

Xellos frowned. That would be no good. What if she'll die?

Now, that was a worrying thought. And it wasn't like him to worry. In fact he didn't know that he was capable of worrying about other people up until now, which was even more worrying on itself.

"There's a bottle I'm my nightstand. Pass it to me." She said when Xellos did not elaborate further on Val's whereabouts.

He tilted his head to the side and thought about making a joke about alcoholism but decided against it and reached for the item. He normally did not obey others wishes until it served his own agenda but he supposed that his master would agree that this was an emergency situation.

He took a transparent glass bottle that held a green liquid within and wriggled a cork out of it. The smell that hit him indicated that it was, in fact, a very strong alcohol.

Filia pushed herself up to a sitting position and grabbed the bottle with a shaky hand. She took a deep breath and chugged down a large portion of its contents while Xellos watched her curiously. When she was done, she coughed violently and hid her mouth and nose in a crook of her arm and took a few shallow breaths.

The alcohol made her feel sick to the stomach but she said nothing, knowing that it'll help her dull the pain and keep warm.

She handed her bottle back to the mazoku and laid down with a sour expression on her face.

Xellos stared down at the item in his hand and then looked up at her.

"Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine you drinking absinthe, and yet, here you are." He pushed the cork back in place and returned the bottle back to the locket in Filia's nightstand.

She didn't grace him with an answer and only turned her head away from him once again. If the humerus in her left arm was not broken, she would have turned her back to him entirely and lay on her side. Unfortunately her injury kept sending waves of sharp pain not only through her limb but also through the upper half of her body. It was annoying and kept her from fighting off the darkness that was haunting her, but somehow Xellos's presence made her more grounded in reality than before. She reasoned that it might have had something to do with her feeling of constant need to keep an eye of him when he was around.

It came as a surprise when the monster moved to the back of her bed and began taking off her leather shoes that she wore indoors.

He placed them both next to her bed and then reached for the covers that she was laying on. Xellos gently slipped them from under her and covered the dragoness up to her chest.

She glanced back up at him and noticed a kind of gleam in his eye that she's always seen in Val's when he got a less than brilliant idea.

They stared at each other for a while not noticing that the rain outside had stopped hitting on the windows and night had fully fallen around the cottage. The forest was eerily quiet and a thin mist hung above the mossy ground. The only sound that they could hear was a muffled conversation that Zelas still held with Milgasia.

Xellos finally broke the silence.

"I've been thinking… it wouldn't be impossible for me to use some white magic." He said as if he was talking more to himself than to Filia. "But I haven't had an opportunity to test that theory as of late." The mazoku added as he pushed himself back up where he sat previously on the edge of the bed.

He bend down and slipped his palm under her covers to place it on Filia's broken humerus while he rested his weight on his elbow.

She was fairly sure that the alcohol that she drank so quickly had caused her to hallucinate. It was said to have such properties, although she had never confirmed them to be true. Maybe she just didn't drink enough of it back then?

Filia kept looking in the monster's amethyst eyes while he cast the spell. She saw him cringe slightly but he did not stop using it. He kept inching closer instead until their noses brushed against each other and she could nearly feel his lips on her own.

She felt a shiver run up her spine and her heartbeat has quickened, making her feel hot and breathless. But in the last second before he could close the gap between them Filia turned her head away once more.

She couldn't kiss him. She shouldn't!

Frustrated, Xellos groaned and laid his forehead on the pillow next to her. But he didn't give up. He wanted to kiss her and decided that he was going to do it anyway, if only to distract himself from the gross feeling of having to use white magic.

The covers were suddenly too warm for Filia. She could feel his breath on her skin as he moved closer to nuzzle her neck. Then he began slowly kissing it, and she couldn't stop herself from letting out a hushed moan.

Soon it turned out to be really difficult for her to not give in to temptation and just grab him and bring their lips together. The alcohol in her bloodstream wasn't helping and the pain in her arm had completely disappeared, and what she was left with was a growing need to wrap her leg around Xellos's waist and let him do whatever he wanted. She knew that she wanted it too.

A loud crash sounded all of sudden from the kitchen followed by Val's bewildered voice yelling: "Missiah?!" then: "Eyes!" in addition to more crashing, Beastmaster's incomprehensive yelling and Milgasia's surprised "NO-!". Then everything went silent.

Xellos and Filia both looked at each other in alarm and quickly sat up when the door to her room swung open and an angry Zelas stormed inside.

The Greater Beast's head and left shoulder were covered in eggshells and a her face glistened with the egg's contents, which were smeared all over her. She was shaking with anger and kept gesturing aggressively as she yelled at her servant and the dragoness beside him.

"I'M GOING TO KILL THAT CROOKED BASTARD ALONG WITH THAT GOLDEN MARTYR AND ROAST THEM BOTH IN THE MIDDLE OF DRAGON PEAK WHILE IT BURNS!"

The Priest got up to his feet and tried to calm down his master without getting too close to her while Filia kept sitting on the bed and trying to discern what could have had happened. Zelas however, had very angrily explained the situation pretty soon.

"It was Val!" She shouted. "That stupid jackass landed his ass on the table! He appeared out of nowhere with pockets full of eggs, covered in sticks, leafs, mud and with his clothes torn all over! He screamed "Eyes!", jumped at that old dragon soldier! Had the gall to throw eggs at me!" Beastmaster grabbed her subordinate by his turtleneck and nearly lifted him up from the floor. "You must find them at once!"

"I-I can't. Val is masking his presence all the time and I know Milgasia can do that too." He replied while trying not to anger his master even more. "I'm sure he'll come back!" Xellos added quickly when Zelas growled and tightened her grip on him. "He won't leave Filia behind."

His reasoning seemed solid enough for Beastmaster. She let go of her subordinate and shook her finger in front of his face threateningly.

"He better do that, or I'll throw you out and won't let you come back here until you find him." She growled.

Xellos only nodded in acknowledgement, there was nothing else he could, or should say about Val's situation. He noticed his master's attention shift behind him and turned to see what had caught her eye.

Filia managed to scramble out of her bed and was now shuffling beside them drunkenly toward the kitchen. She didn't seem to care about him or Zelas much and just by the look on her face they could tell that she was angry.

"That stupid… ! How could he!?" She hissed when she saw the damage done to her wooden table and chairs. For a few minutes she stood in place, red faced, and breathed heavily while Xellos and his master regarded her from behind an open door of her room.

Without a warning Filia turned around and strode to the front door. She gripped the handle in a drunken stupor and pushed so harshly that she ripped it out the along with the lock.

The dragoness stomped outside with her fists clenched and a door handle still trapped in her grasp. It was already dark outside and she nearly missed a step while she was descending from her front porch. The air was cold enough that her breath came out in a white puffs before blending with her surroundings. She walked barefoot on a wet, freezing grass, not wanting to share her space with anyone, especially monsters.

Xellos was about to go after her but his master had placed a hand on his shoulder, successfully stopping him from leaving the cottage.

"Let her go for now. She won't get far like this." Zelas said dismissively.

The Priest felt a need to argue. Just a few minutes ago Filia wasn't even lucid enough to stand. They didn't know what was wrong with her and yet his master let her wander around on a cold autumn evening drunk and without shoes on. It'll be a problem if Filia gets sick, he thought.

But he kept quiet, knowing not to test The Greater Beast's temper.

"I want you to tell me, what had happened between you and Val today. Obviously something interesting must have had taken place." She bared her teeth menacingly in a mock of a smile.

He did not need to be given the same order twice, therefore Xellos began summarizing the events of the present day that had befallen after he followed Val to the Candy Shop. He had told her about Nevabedaya, the courtesans, illegal drug business and about the Hanged Man. He was describing to Zelas his skirmish with the younger dragon and was about to move on to the bell that he had found, but halted his speech when they heard a song coming from behind the cottage.

The voice that sung it belonged to Filia, but there was a power within it that Xellos would have had never associated with her. The sound of it seemed to pierce through the heaven and earth alike and tear into the fabric of time itself, when it traveled further away than any song had a right to.

For a moment Beastmaster thought it was a spell, and she had tensed and bent her knees as if ready to jump away. But when nothing happened she slowly stalked out of the room and stuck her head between the front door and the doorframe to listen.

None of them could understand the words of Filia's unexpected dragonsong but it sounded very much like she was lamenting. Her voice was also surprisingly clear and loud for someone as inebriated as her.

Zelas turned her head to her subordinate, who had followed her into the corridor.

"Shut her up before she'll attract any attention to us." Beastmaster whispered as if they were already watched by some hidden enemy.

Xellos obeyed his master silently and disappeared from the cottage only to reappear behind it. He was standing next to the dragoness who sat on her knees by a stack of firewood and held an axe in one hand. The handle that she had ripped out of the door a while ago had been obviously discarded in favour of replacing it with something that had more mace-like properties.

When she noticed the mazoku, Filia raised her weapon and pointed it unsteadily at him.

"G-ghet away fwom meh! Ged out!" She slurred while she tried to stand up. It had taken her a few attempts however, and the dragoness had nearly faceplanted the grass a few times before finally gaining some balance.

"Now, here's the Filia I know." Xellos said cheerfully and took a hold of the head of her axe, more to keep her from tripping with it in her hand rather than to piss her off, but she had taken it as an offense regardless of his intentions.

"You-hh- know **nothing** about meh!" Filia exclaimed as she tried to wrestle the axe out of the Priest's hand. She was angry and desperate to get rid of him, lest he'll try to take advantage of her again and she'll make a mistake of giving in to him.

After being hustled out of his money, joked at by a bunch of courtesans, losing Val and being denied a kiss that he very much wanted, Xellos had very little patience for coaxing a drunken dragoness back into her own house. And since she seemed to be physically fine, he decided that he may as well make a use of her intoxicated state of mind and get some honest answers. He was fairly sure that she wouldn't be able to lie to him right now, even if she wanted to.

So he shoved his free hand into the bag that he always carried around and pulled the old, crumpled cowbell that he retrieved from the wheat fields when he fought with Val. She did a double take as he brought it up, and stared at it wide eyed.

Filia stopped struggling to free her axe from Xellos's grip and her hands had fallen limply to her sides. She took a small step forward and then quickly backed away as if the cowbell was about to burn her.

The mazoku discarded the weapon without care.

"Do you recognize this?" He asked, thinking that she'll start making some drunken excuses.

But instead of replying, she shook her head and started hyperventilating. The frantic reaction surprised him. He frowned, and took a peek at the crumpled piece of metal.

It didn't seem very scary to him. Definitely not enchanted or drenched in gore. Yet Filia's reaction told him that there was something evil about it.

He saw her take a few more rapid steps back and then her eyes lost their focus, and her knees gave way under her weight as she fell.

Xellos caught her just in time before her body hit the ground. He lifted her up in his arms a second time that day and looked down at her face noticing a few tears rolling across her cheeks.

Maybe he really knew nothing about her after all.


	9. To Endure

Another shorter chapter. Kinda chaotic but the essentials are there.  
So much ellipsis... man...

Also, thank you for the comment!

* * *

A loud splashing sound filled the air between many old, moss covered trees that surrounded the bogs on the western side of the forest that stretched far and wide across the Tysna mountains, which lay South of Khamarn country. It was dark and cold, and two voices could have been heard groaning and arguing while their owners were covered in water up to their waists and trying to find their way to the dry ground.

"I can't believe this! I _just_ can't believe what you have done!" Milgasia complained bitterly. "How could you do that?!"

"Wha… ?" Val mumbled. He was trying to maintain his shaky connection with reality.

"There are mazoku in your house! Zelas is there! And Filia is hurt!" The older dragon threw his hands in the air in frustration and as he did so, he nearly tripped on a rock that got buried in the mud under turbid waters of the bog.

"That's so bad… we have to go help her." Replied the younger. "Like, man… " He said before he walked into a low hanging branch and nearly fell backwards.

Thankfully, his companion had caught him by the arm and hurled him forward.

"How could you even get high in a situation like this!?" Milgasia rasped disbelievingly.

"I needed an antys- antisi- antepes-... painkiller. I got so much ass kicking. In the stomach." The taller dragon slurred as he stroked his bruised abdomen. Back on the field he got an idea to use the drugs which he had in his suitcase to help himself get better and hurry home so Filia won't worry too much.

Of course traveling while on several antiseptics did not go smoothly. It never did in his case. He knew people who could appear precisely where they meant to, no matter how smashed or high they were, but he was not one of them.

Before Val had landed on the kitchen table in his cottage, he managed to trip into a fancy garden, teleport to some small island in the middle of a secluded lake, fall into a chicken coop and faceplant onto a wet graveyard path. It wasn't the most chaotic teleportation he had ever done, but it came very close to the top of the list.

"Couldn't you take it _after_ you came back home?!" The golden dragon stopped and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He was getting too old for nighttime off road cruises like the one that he was currently stuck in.

"You don't understand... " Val raplied and halted his steps while he tried and failed to see where they were heading. "I'm gay." He said.

"How many times do I have to tell you, that you can't blame your every bad decision on being gay!?" Milgasia shook his hands in frustration.

"You're too straight, man." They younger dragon sighed and nodded sadly at his companion.

An owl above them hooted loudly as if in agreement with that statement.

Milgasia grit his teeth and turned around to find something else to think about. Arguing with Val right now wasn't very productive and they needed to find their way to Filia's cottage as fast as possible. Unfortunately, he was not very gifted when it came to the art of teleporting and there was no use in trying since they both appeared to not know where they were.

He shook his head. "How did Zelas even managed to find you two? Your house is masked by 3rd level golden barrier." The blond wondered aloud while he began to flounder through the bog again.

Val followed after him.

"Oh, it was Xellos. I run home- he's there!" Val made a violent motion with his hands. "He says: _I was around and saw yous house! My master and I needs a place to hide, man. This dude wih black sword almost killed her._ And I think to myself… "

He tapped his forehead with his index finger. " _That must be Xeinar. Like, only him could do something crazy like that! And I know that he's going to find them eventually, you know. I have beef with him, man. So I said that they can stay, I know he'll come for them._ "

When Milgasia heard that, he turned to the face the other dragon and swiftly grabbed Val's pointed ears to bring his face down.

"You mean to tell me! That you purposely took in two worst mazoku known to the dragon race to bait Xeinar into visiting you!?" He twisted the young dragon's ears in anger.

Val bent his knees and cringed. "AAooww! Stop that!" He tried to swat Milgasia's hands away but the older dragon's grip on him was relentless. "H-how else am I supposed to get to talk to him? He had disappeared about twenty years ago and didn't even say where he was going!"

"Maybe he didn't tell you because he didn't want you to follow him!? A-a-and what if he tracks them down to Filia's cottage? What then?! Do you think he won't be angry at you?! You were supposed to to protect her, not shove her into the hands of mazoku!" The blond stammered with panic stricken voice.

"Wha… ? Not to worry, Xellos is there." Val blinked lazily and smiled as if leaving Filia alone with Xellos was a good thing.

Milgasia unceremoniously released the hustler from his hold and watched him fall face first into the bog.

"Xellos is a mazoku." The golden dragon growled in frustration. "You may believe all those ridiculous theories that you and Xeinar had came up with all you want, but that won't change the fact that Xellos is not capable of caring about anyone, and anything unless his master orders him so. **You** of all people should know it best." He pointed an accusing finger at his taller companion who was wiping the excess water from his face.

"What? I didn't understand what you said! Water got in my ears!" Val shouted and squinted his eyes 'to hear better'.

The other dragon smacked him with a twig that was floating by, carried freely by invisible currents in an unknown direction. They could hear frogs croaking around them and a thin mist began gathering above the surface of the water.

"Ow! Why are you hitting me, man? That's mean… " Complained the younger of the two.

Milgasia ignored him. "I've had enough of you." The older said and waddled away from the source of his current irritation. "I'm transforming and coming back for Filia."

"Won't Zelas kill you if you do?"

The leader of Dragon Peak suddenly halted. It was true that The Greater Beast would rip him to shreds if he dared to show up in the cottage again. She was ready to do it before Val had appeared on the table and started throwing eggs at the mazoku, although, he didn't understand what purpose the word 'eyes' was supposed to serve there… better not to ask right now. He wouldn't get a decent reply out of Val anyway.

"That's our only option. Need I remind you that Filia, whom you were supposed to protect, is at mercy of Beastmaster Zelas Metallium?" He pointed out with as much patience as he could muster.

Val seemed to give the words some thought. "...Xeinar will be angry." He concluded.

"Get away from me and don't speak!" Milgasa bellowed and blindly splashed water around in anger. He couldn't go back for Filia, but he absolutely could not stay where he was. Valtýr was already driving him crazy.

The weather was another thing that made their situation significantly worse than it would have been. It was so cold that the air they were exhaling was coming out in white puffs, and the scarce vines that fell from branches of even scarcer trees were covered in a thin layer of ice. Not to mention that they were both soaked in a freezing water from heads to toes and half submerged in a bog.

"I'm just trying to help you out Missiah. Why must you always get so angry?" The young dragon appeared to be wounded by his companion's outburst.

"Because it's not the first time something like this happens! But it's definitely worse than the other times when you got high!" Milgasia yelled. All attempts to rein in his anger fell short to Val's inability to realize how serious of a problem Xeinar's wrath could be, especially combined with Zelas's presence in their house.

Not to mention that Xellos was there.

It was everything that Filia wanted to avoid combined into one.

Val winced. "It's cold…" He stated as if he was complaining about a hotel room he just rented, and not being stuck in a bog at night with no sense of direction. "How about we make a fire?"

"Brilliant idea, except for the part where we are literally surrounded by water." The shorter dragon replied dryly.

"I could set a tree on fire." The taller one suggested.

"So Xellos can find us, and kill us? Are you really that incapable of judging the situation that we're in?" Milgasia asked.

"Oh, he won't." Val waved his hand dismissively. He truly didn't believe that the Priest would pose that much of a threat to them and his older companion had found it very disconcerting.

"His master is furious with us. I'm sure of it. And he will not disobey her orders, not now, not ever. When will you learn that?" Milgasia laid out his hands helplessly.

"He will just punch us a few times really hard and say we're stupid." Said the younger dragon.

" _Just_ punch us?!" Groaned the other. "You have yet to see what he's capable of if you think that Xellos punching people really hard won't kill them instantly!"

"He punched me hard and I'm ok." Val nodded at his abdomen.

"He wasn't punching you hard then! If he were to get serious you wouldn't even have an opportunity to blink before you died!" Milgasia shook his fist earnestly at his companion. Somehow, he couldn't stop replying to Val's stupid comments and ideas.

"Man… that's scary." The young dragon deadpanned lazily. He remained quiet for a short amount of time then he turned his gaze down and looked at his own reflection in the dark waters that surrounded him. "Misiah… when, like, was the first time you killed someone?"

The older dragon's hand fell to his side and he pondered the sudden personal question. "When I had gone to war. I was about three hundred back then." He replied and heaved a sigh. "Why are you asking me this all of sudden?"

"Is just, you keep talking about getting my ass beat an' murder, an' it got me remembering shit like, back when we lived in tha hoe house…" Val scratched his head.

Milgasia's expression turned sour when he heard that. He knew that his companion's earlier life was not something one would remember with fondness. Nonetheless, the current moment was not the best for recounting the events of the past.

"Do we really have to talk about this right now?" The golden dragon asked with a strained voice.

"It's just, that, like, when I'm thinking about it… you know. I still sleep with my sword under my pillow. And I'm a dragon, but I still couldn't do anything sometimes." Val's tail had showed up as he spoke, and started swaying in the water while he swaddled up to Milgasia and kept walking in some unknown direction. "When I wasn't there and some strange thugs showed up and just killed people with whom you shared your life."

The golden dragon followed silently, letting Val ramble on as he sometimes did when he was in a bad mood.

"Once they came like, very early, and we were smaller, and like, stupider; Xeinar and I. And e'erybody was like, asleep, shitfaced, man. Then, like, 4 thugs and some furry crashed in, so fast, like, no one knew what was goin' on!" The taller dragon smacked his spiked tail on the the bogwater so suddenly that Milgasia nearly tripped over his own legs in panic. "They just murdered people! They murdered Scava and the owner." Val shook his head. "And Úlita tried to save her but it was jus'..." His word faded into an incomprehensible babble.

"Must have been hard." The older dragon said and patted his friend's back.

"Yeah, it was like, our fault. We robbed their people man, and I don't know how they found where we lived. It was so far away… " Val outstretched his hands in front of himself only to let them fall to his sides and splash the water as he kept moving forward in the darkness.

"And Úlita found out it was 'cause of us, and she slapped Xeinar so hard, man. She was so angry. People died stupid deaths. But shit like that kept happening. It always happens. You can't stop them people from murdering each other, it's like, not possible. Innocent or not, doesn't matter." The taller dragon yawned and rubbed his eyes. "But we are build to endure… we are build to endure, man." He muttered languidly.

Milgasia decided long ago that he didn't like when both, Val and Xeinar talked about their childhood. Their recollections alway tended to ruin his mood. He was against the general idea of beings such as elves and dragons mingling with humans on day to day life level. And Filia's decision to keep living in a brothel for such a long period of time was an abstract concept to him.

It was true that she needed to hide, and hide well, but she idled there for over 17 years. He knew that she got attached to some people in that place but that was just irresponsible on her part. To be surrounded by so much crime, and other very improper things…

 _The darkest place is under the lantern._ She used to say when he made an inquiry about her choices, but her response didn't make him agree with her on the matter.

He halted when he heard a loud growl coming from Val's direction.

"Am hungry." The younger dragon whined. He squinted his eyes and looked around, obviously trying to spot something specific.

"What is it?" Milgasia asked, suddenly alarmed by Val's searching gaze.

"Let's catch something and eat it." The taller dragon replied." I'm gonna roast it like Xeinar did with those motherfuckers who killed Scava." He added grimly and his eyes shone dangerously.

Milgasia's hands flew to Val's face, covering his mouth and nose. "No!"

For a moment Val was only staring at his older companion. They were surrounded by croaking of frogs and some far away chirping of crickets. It was hard to see beyond the moss covered trees in the darkness that was engulfing them but when he strained his eyes, the taller dragon could see a glimpse of an old bridge that once must have had served as a small docking site for local fishermen.

"Hmf." Val said from behind a palm that was pressed to his mouth.

"Don't you dare set anything on fire." Milgasia growled threateningly.

"HRRMMmm!" The other nodded his head at the far away point behind the golden dragon's back with both his finger, and his tail.

The blond turned his head around. He didn't see anything interesting near him. "What?" He asked in exasperation and took his hands off of Val's face.

"There's an old bridge right there." The younger dragon pointed at a little dark spot far away. "Let's go and see." He moved without waiting for his companion's approval.

Milgasia followed if only because he did not have any better idea as to where to go.

They waddled through the dark bog wordlessly and with each passing minute the bridge was getting more recognizable. Val kept building up flames in his mouth and then exhaling them through his nostrils to warm himself up and Milgasia walked closer to catch some of the heat that was radiating from him. It they were humans, they would have blacked out due to hypothermia a long time ago.

A cloud of smoke hung around them as they lumbered between thick tree trunks, vines and dead bushes. When they finally found a shore and climbed out of the water near the mouldering wooden bridge, they stood close to each other and tried to examine their surroundings in the darkness.

It seemed that there were slightly more trees growing out of the dry ground, than in the bog that turned out to be a remnant of a lake that had been flooding quite frequently before it eventually started drying up. There was barely any grass under their feet and the ground was still wet after the rain that had fallen during the day. The crowns of the trees that grew there could not provide much of a shelter for they had very few leafs on their branches and a cold breeze blew between them with ease.

"Let's gather some wood and get a fire going. It doesn't matter if it's wet, we can dry it up without a problem." Milgasia said as he shivered and rubbed his forearms. "A small fire!" He added and gave Val a pointed look.

The younger dragon stared at his companion for a while with half lidded eyes. "Yeah." He said finally and began walking around in search of something that could be classified as a stick. His tail was laying limply on the ground as he dragged it through the muddy earth.

Milgasia shook his head in irritation and shuffled after Val. He'll have to figure out how to get to Filia before something happens between her and the monsters again, while he and the high as a kettle hustler who walked in front of him warm themselves up and find out their current location.

Meanwhile in Filia's cottage everything was mostly dark and quiet, save for her own room. The oil lamp on her nightstand still burned with a dull flame while she laid in her bed, covered a quilt, and slept.

The Beastmaster was upstairs, as always, and busied herself with the new information which her servant had provided her with. She was deeply disturbed by what she had heard.

What had transpired that day was very suspicious indeed. The bombings, Filia's weird reactions to violence and pain, Milgasia's sudden appearance, then there was that dragon song…

She scratched her nose and stared at the heart shaped pendant that she had confiscated from the leader of the Dragon Peak's battalion. It would have been very convenient for her to wrestle some form of support for herself out of that golden fool, otherwise she didn't know what to do with him other than try to kill him. But that would have been risky. Too many eyes were turned toward their area, and she was in no condition to partake in any serious battles that may occur if she were to be spotted hiding with dragons.

How troublesome.

Zelas frowned at the item in her hand and kept trying to put together a plausible course of action. As she was occupying herself up in her room, Xellos sat on the stairs and pondered Filia's reaction to the bell which he had presented to her earlier.

He had walked into the cottage promptly after she passed out and put her back under covers. The long skirt that she wore got damp from the wet grass she's been sitting on but he did not bother with removing it, lest she'll accuse him of something stupid. He did not mention the bell to his master because he came to a conclusion that he himself doesn't know anything about it. There's no need to talk about things he had yet to figure out, he reasoned.

Maybe Filia collapsed because of absynthe that she chugged down so carelessly?

No, that could not have been that. She's a dragon, therefore the amount she drank should not have had any extreme effects on her.

And what was up with that song? It definitely wasn't a drunken ballad, it was too piercing and seemed to be directed at something, or someone far away. It was not impossible that she was calling for Val. Dragons have their strange ways of communication, and Val was the closest relative of hers. She probably got angry at him for ruining her kitchen…

This situation would be much easier to handle if Lina Inverse and her ever loyal band of morons were still alive. Regrettably, Xellos had noticed that having them around made solving problems faster and easier; at least for him. It's not everyday that a mazoku such as himself would find itself dependent on a bunch of human livestock.

It was like getting addicted to chickens; not on their meat, but chickens themselves. Lina and her friends were like pet chickens to Xellos and they had proven to be very useful when it came to finding answers in a very entertaining way.

He sighed heavily. "Those were simpler times…"

Xellos kept sitting in the darkness with his chin propped on his palm. He glanced at Filia's door, which was on his left. The light from oil lamp was spilling out from under it but he knew that she had not woken up. He could feel an abundance of negative emotions building up in the room, so he stood up and reached for the handle to take a look inside.

He invited himself into Filia's room soundlessly. This time he had an opportunity to take a look around without anything distracting him.

There was a window to his right and another one across him. A small desk stood next to him and in the right corner there was a tall, wooden wardrobe; on the other side, in the left corner stood a rocking chair laden with cushions and a pink blanket with flower patterns meticulously sewn into it. A small ball of dark blue yarn was placed on top of it and an unfinished woolen glove laid at the side.

There was a basket full of colorful yarn and threads placed under the chair as well as a small table that stood next to it. Then there was a large chest at the feet of Filia's bed.

Xellos took a few quiet steps toward the wooden container and slowly lifted the heavy lid which revealed a stack of fabrics in varying colors and origin. More balls of yarn was stuffed at the side along with a bag full of different knitting needles.

He let out a hushed chucke. So that what she was into nowadays. Perhaps the vase and mace business had failed her and she had dumped everything and set out to master a new skill. It wouldn't be beyond her to do something dramatic like that.

His attention was turned back to Filia when he sensed her distress rapidly grow in magnitude. She was laying curled up on her side, facing the wall and with her head hidden in the blankets that she managed to drag off of herself. He could hear her breath quicken and soon she began whimpering and her body started to tremble.

Her skirt was drawn up to her tights and for a second he stared at her pale legs that were covered in goosebumps. Xellos didn't even know when he stepped closer to her bedside. He reached down and brushed off some of her golden hair that got stuck between the covers and her face.

For a moment he considered waking her up but the concept of being yelled at right at this moment did not seem overly entertaining to him. And her antics had a very unpredictable effects on his mood. Tonight, it was simply not worth it.

Then Filia cried out into the sheets that she held crumpled against her face and her body became incredibly tense. She seemed to be pushing herself forward, as if she was trying to climb onto something, and she screamed again.

The mazoku who kept standing above her wondered about the kind of nightmare that she was having. Maybe she was chased by something? Or maybe she was dragged by someone? If he found out then perhaps he could use it to his advantage. He was really interested in Filia's deepest fears. Knowing them would make him feel greatly empowered during an argument, and it would also provide him with a fair amount of amusement.

However her distress bothered him. He could not place it, but he had a feeling that there was some connection between her panic stricken behaviour when she saw the bell and the dream that she was currently having.

Xellos watched as Filia began wailing quietly and shaking her head. His knuckles brushed softly against her side as he slid his hand down to pull her skirt over her legs, but he paused suddenly when he noticed that her sweater and linen shirt had rolled up revealing a glimpse of her back. He opened his eyes and stared.

Scars.

He lifted up Filia's clothes some more. She had whipping scars all over her back. They were large and deep, and so many of them that there wasn't any untouched skin visible. It looked like her back was skinned entirely with a whip.

Then she began to shake violently and pant like she couldn't catch her breath. A few seconds later Xellos heard her retch. He sensed that she was about to wake up and in the spur of a moment he withdrew his hand quickly and disappeard.

He had simply panicked and fled.

Something like that had never happened to him before. But he didn't know what else to do, his mind went completely blank when she began to wake.

The Priest stood outside with his back leaning against the wall under the window of her room.

Those scars… the sight of them made him feel incredibly violent and at the same time, he felt pain. It was painful for him to look at Filia's marred skin and know that someone had done that to her.

Was that what she was dreaming about? A reenactment of her torture?

His eye twitched and he glared at the trees in front of him.

Who would have dared to do that to her? Who would have the audacity to even lay a finger on her? He has to know. _He has to know!_

Xellos caught himself walking in the direction of the bombed city that stood nearby but he turned around when he heard Filia cough and run out of her room. He noticed that she was heading to the bathroom, probably to wash her face. Whatever she had really dreamed about must have made her sick to her stomach.

He flexed his fingers while he tried to compose himself. The reaction that he just had was very un-mazoku-like. He had acknowledged that he cared in some ways about Filia, but it wasn't that fierce. Having her around was entertaining and reminded him about the time when he used to partake in Lina Inverse's quests.

Filia was just another pet chicken to him and the fact that she was the last one simply made her more valuable. She wasn't supposed to get him foaming at the mouth when someone put a few scratches on her.

Xellos walked back to his spot under her window. He crossed his arms on his chest and collected his thoughts and feelings while he kept listening to Filia's steps as she retreated back to her room.

She was crying.

He heard her sob loudly before she seemed to calm down and shuffle toward her bed, but then she stopped. Apparently the quilt was not in the best condition to sleep in because he heard as she dragged it off the bed and wriggled the quilt out of it's cover. But instead of doing something with it she sat down on the bed and started crying again, this time quietly.

That was it! He couldn't take it!

Xellos disappeared.

Now that was ridiculous, a mazoku who can't stand someone's misery!

He teleported to the top of the nearest mountain and sat on a snow covered boulder. The clear starry sky that hung above him reminded him in a way of The Sea of Chaos, only it was less chaotic.

But still!

The Priest looked over the dark expanse of the forest in which Filia decided to plant her incredibly flammable cottage and call it a home. He should burn it and kill her to spare himself the trouble of so called 'caring'. It would be the healthiest solution for him. Unfortunately, his master needed her alive.

Zelas had been a hindrance to him as of late, which barely ever happened, and never to this degree. It surprised Xellos that he was able to admit that to himself for Beastmaster's will had always triumphed over his own and he had never before found himself willing to change that.

Something was out of place with him, and there may have been certain answers that could made it easier to put it all together but he did not want to take a risk of considering them.

He spared a glance down at the cottage that was now barely visible between the trees. He'll have to go back there soon. Even if there was something going on with his and his master's power he could not just disobey her. He couldn't just challenge her, especially without a clear reason, and wanting to get rid of Filia was not significant enough for him to grant him victory.

No matter how much he wants to touch her and kiss her, he has to get rid of her. Yes. He has to, otherwise she'll drive him mad. So he'll better devise a good plan. Zelas won't be in need of her forever. He will just have to wait.

Or maybe he could keep her alive. Just away from other people and dragons, like she was now. But this time he will be aware of everyone and everything that will come near her. He won't let even Beastmaster to sneak too close. That way, Filia will be safe. And she'll be all his. She'll be yelling at him a lot and then sometimes she will kiss him.

He growled infrustration. This night was clearly reserved for stupid ideas, just like the day before it had been plagued by stupid events! What on earth is happening?!

Xellos shook his head and rubbed his scarred face. Maybe he should focus on finding Val? There was no guarantee that the ancient dragon was going to return anytime soon.

He nodded to himself solemnly in approval. The first place that he was going to investigate for any possible clues of Val's whereabouts were the ruins of the nearby city. Just because he wanted to be surrounded by some death and destruction.

Grimnir sat on the ground under the wall of the dark, stony corridor. He stared through the hole in his mask as his sword finished feeding on Dynast. He's just woken up from a nap he was taking after their duel.

Duel? Can he call it like that? Well, they did fight and he did win. It wasn't like he had dropped on his place all of sudden and went on a killing spree like some lunatic psychos tend to do.

He's not _that_ kind of person. He challenged them first and then they fought and all. They had the means to protect themselves.

It took far longer for _Urquina Onram_ to get rid of this particular mazoku, he noted. But since it wasn't causing him any problems he simply decided not to dwell on it. He stretched his limbs and yawned, and then he summoned the sword back into his hand.

Grimnir brought his other hand to the side of his helmet. He felt his ears prickling and getting hot all of sudden.

"Someone's talking about me…" He concluded. For a moment he wondered who could be prattling about him behind his back.

"That would be me." Garu's voice sounded from an unspecified direction before she appeared in front of him. "My Lord wants to see you."

The blue eye that was visible through the hole in the obsidian helmet studied her for a second.

"Yeah, I'd like to see myself, I suppose. I haven't had a mirror in my hand for days." Grimnir complained.

"I wasn't talking about you!" She exclaimed angrily.

"Really? You seem to already take my orders." The Perturbator tilted his head which made his eye more visible to her.

"I didn't do that because you ordered me to! Besides, you have some nerve to let yourself fall asleep in a mazoku stronghold." Garu growled as she looked down at him.

"Really? It's _my_ stronghold now." Grimnir said.

"I could've had killed you with ease." She stated.

"Could you?" He asked without even bothering to hide the mockery in his voice.

Grimnir saw her tense and take a few steps back. "Lord Ruby Eye awaits you. I take that you know where he is. We'll be waiting for you." She spoke in a very official manner and then disappeared.

"I was about to go there anyway." He sighed and he pushed himself up to his feet.

Taking Ruby Eye Magnus out of the way was supposed to open a clean path for him to finally start moving with his primary goal. Unfortunately, Zelas had slipped through his fingers and despite her laughable state she still posed a threat to his plans.

He initially wanted to take them down like dominos: from the shittiest, to the mightiest. However now that things got slightly messed up he had to make room for improvisations. How annoying.

But he survived worse.

He was built to endure after all, he thought as he made his way down the dark corridor inside his newly acquired mountain.


	10. Killjoy

" **C'mon, give us a smile."**

…

" **Is that supposed to be a smile?"**

" **You tell jokes with that face?"**

" **What is wrong with my face? I don't understand."**

" **Whak."**

" **What-"**

" **Whak Milgasia."**

" **What do you mea-"**

" **Whakgasia."**

" **Milgawhak."**

" **I am a dragon and a leader of Dra-"**

" **Not everything is lost, man. We will make a person out of you yet."**

" **I don't-"**

" **But before that happens, let's see how much stress you can take before you'll start showing signs of personality."**

* * *

He sped across the clean blue sky that hung above the ocean. The hour was early but the sun had already managed to climb high above the horizon, slowly waking those who were still snoring under their quilts.

Sunlight warming his golden scales was a welcome sensation after the disastrous night at Filia's cottage and what followed when he got out of it. Besides, too much darkness tends to make a golden dragon weary. It was widely known that they are the creatures of the light and thus need it to stay strong and healthy.

Milgasia yawned and then nearly choked on the cold air that rammed straight into his throat. He's been stuck with Val for nearly an entire night until the ancient dragon sobered up enough to stop recounting events of the past, or making irrelevant observations about irrelevant things.

The way he behaved when Val and/or Xeinaar were around him made him feel unworthy of being called an Elder by golden dragons. But alas! It could not be helped since these two had decided that they will capture his fellow golden dragons, with whom he was travelling at the time as well as his elf friend Memphis, who was the main reason for that unfortunate turn of events . Oh how he regretted letting her fight in that damned rink! But the moment they saw the contestant they knew that something was awry with him and she pleaded for permission to use her Zenaffa armor. An elvish multiweapon that could change its shape and size, and trap mazoku no matter its power, according to its master's wishes.

What would it hurt? He thought back then.

The champion wore black robes and hid the lower parts of his face behind a cloth and an upper under a hood.

They had stumbled upon an underground fighting rink during their search for a very rare blend of herbs which they needed to cure Memphis's father who had contracted an equally rare disease.

The man in the rink was rude and arrogant, but also unbelievably strong. A little elf maiden would have been equal to nothing in such person's eyes.

A lesson in humility would've served that individual well. Milgasia thought as he granted his friend permission to wreck some havoc. People who gathered there were criminals, so maybe getting struck with some flying debris would enlighten some of them and turn them to the path of redemption.

Or maybe it would just serve them right.

But no matter. As long as Memphis had her armor no one could land a finger on her…

How wrong they were to think that way.

When she stepped into the rink, hands on her hips and legs apart, the dark figure turned towards her. He seemed to regard her for a second, before saying: "Ey, Val. How much is Zenaffa worth?"

"Oh, man, I don't know. Really. Like… it depends on whom we would be sellin' it to. But it's gonna be a lot." Replied a very tall, young man with toused teal hair, who was watching the fights from under the wall not far away.

"As if you'll be able to take it from me! It is loyal to me only, and you won't even have a chance to touch it before it touches you!" Memphis bragged from the other side of the rink.

The black figure then stepped forward without replying and she was about to command her Zenaffa to sprout a pair of large, clawed arms. But before that happened, he suddenly appeared in front of her with his own arm extended and finger pointing at the piece of armor on her chest.

He drew his finger closer and as he were to touch it, the armor gave out a shrill scream and parted around his finger like liquid, revealing the soft clothes underneath.

"Yeah… " The man said pensively. "I think that touching this piece of junk will be a problem, no matter who initiates the contact."

Milgasia knew then, that they are deep in trouble. Regrettably, it was not the kind of trouble he anticipated.

At least most of it wasn't, he mentally noted as he gained altitude to feel his way to Dragon's Peak better. Flying low somehow could make him feel claustrophobic, despite not being surrounded by anything other than water that was making up the ocean far below him.

The memory of his first meeting with Filia's two unruly wards made him drop low, probably in check with his mood.

Yes, there were two of them. Almost always together. And although she never outward said anything about them, he knew that the dark one was her son. She shares a bond with him, that only blood relatives between dragons can share. As for the father; Milgasia hand never asked about him, because he simply feared the answer that she was most likely to give. An answer like that would be unacceptable anyway. But there were times during which he was itching to ask, with hopes of having his theories debunked.

But they looked so alike in face…

Milgasia shook his head.

No. No. Don't think about it. It's ridiculous. You're overreacting. He mentally scolded himself.

His thoughts went now to Val, who asked him to go back to his continent and arrange a few rooms in one of Seyruun's cathedrals. He had found such decision fairly acceptable, especially after the other dragon firmly stated that he was going back to their cottage and sneak Filia out.

Finally! A glimmer of sound judgement!

So now Milgasia rushed across the skies and above the deep ocean to find a well hidden cathedral, with wind under his wings and great amount of anxiety shaking up his mind.

A long distance behind him, in a wooden cottage that stoon in a clearing between the trees that made up the woods that grew under the mountains Filia woke up with a headache.

It was an early morning and she felt tired and nervous. The events of the previous day and the dream she had after she passed out had left her exhausted. Aside from that, she could swear that she heard a response to her call just a few seconds before she fell unconscious. It had been incredibly disheartening that she didn't have a chance to hear a complete message.

Especially because of the information that Val brought to her when he came back from the bombed city. He had said that one of the explosives that failed to detonate on time bore Xeinaar's sigil.

That information made her weak back then and later it drove her into sorrow, which led to her ill tempered outburst at Zelas. She knew it was foolish to just walk up to a Mazoku lord and simply demand from The Greater Beast to leave.

She also worried that the recipient of that call had decided to visit her in person when he did not received a reply. Filia had to admit, that lamenting in dragonsong to Xeinaar was a bad idea. If he were to find Zelas here, he would definitely blow up at least one mountain and drag Val through a mud a few times for not doing something about the Mazoku. And who knows what he would do if he and Xellos met. She didn't know if Xeinaar wished to harm him.

A shudder went through her at the thought of a possible fight between the two mazoku who made themselves comfortable at her cottage and her overly emotional disaster of a son. If it ever came to this she didn't want to be near the resulting fight.

Filia shook her head. She was overthinking and she needed to stop before the stress will push her over the edge and she'll end up suffering another attack. Those used to happen more often than before they moved to this secluded cottage, and she began to feel better after some time of peace but of course something had to happen to make it all worse again.

"I need some tea." She concluded to herself. After a day filled with so many stressful events she deserved a lot of it.

She rubbed her eyes and slowly scrambled off of her bed. Her eyelids felt heavy and she could feel nausea building up within her. Aside from that she had trouble regaining her balance after she got up.

It seemed that it was one of these days when she will need Val's assistance. Reality had become more difficult for her to process and her own body felt more like a rough suit tightly wrapped around her soul than her own flesh and blood.

Filia also had concluded that the time for her and Val to leave their cottage has come. They've dwelt there for too long and now that Xellos has found them, she could not allow herself to stay near him and his master. Being near them for so long was already taking its toll on her. They were already suspecting something; especially Zelas, who seemed determined to find out what is happening with her.

She slowly made her way to the kitchen, hoping that both Mazoku are occupied with something of greater importance than getting in her way. After taking a few steps toward the cabinet that contained her herbs Filia stopped dead and her eyes widened slightly as she recalled another even of the previous day.

Milgasia!

That's right! He's been here and Zelas had held him captive!

How could she forget about that!?

As the reality settled in more firmly her strength began to rapidly evaporate. The surroundings seemed to get darker and the air became colder and thicker. She tripped over her own legs and fell onto her knees in the middle of her kitchen.

The morning sun seeping through the window irritated her, and the cheery birdsong sounded like an abominable clamor. The very smell of wood that her cottage was made of was suffocating her and the sensation of her own skin rubbing against the fabric of her clothes felt like they were made of sandpaper. Grating against her body and tearing at her very being.

Filia's breathing became faster and more erratic. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to not become overwhelmed by the illusion of sudden hostility of her surroundings.

The song from yesterday came to her mind and she tried to focus on the possible response to her words. But to no avail were her attempts to keep herself occupied to what should matter the most to her right at that very moment, for the darkness kept calling her from beyond the boundaries of the world of the living.

She hoped that Val would come to her aid soon. There was no life around her to climb on, and if one of the Mazoku who were staying at her house found her right now they would, without a doubt, try to exploit her moment of weakness. Zelas was already suspecting something and the previous day had proven that she would happily drive Filia further into the abyss, if only to see what would happen.

Just as she was about to lose control the hinges of the front door let out a long, miserable screech as they had slowly been pushed open. A few intangible grunts followed by heavy footsteps sounded from the corridor and then a disheveled and dirty Val showed up in the entrance to the kitchen. He did a double take when his eyes landed on Filia and let out a horrified gasp.

In a matter of seconds he was kneeling by her side, trying to calm her down and bring her back to reality. He called her by her name a few times, but when that failed to make her respond, Val wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up.

A shiver went through Filia's body when she felt a familiar warmth pressed against her. The sensation of being under care of someone she could trust helped her calm down. Slowly she began regaining her senses and a blurry image of Val's dirty face and tangled hair came into focus in front of her.

She frowned, clearly displeased by his unruly state.

" _Va-Valtýr? Baev jege mante...?_ " (Valtýr? What happened to you?) Filia asked while to reach out to touch his hair.

" _Oh, viede… túre ges._ " (Oh, you know… I got lost.) He gave her a lopsided smile, hoping that the topic of their conversation would change soon.

" _Jege..._ " (You…) The dragoness went stiff and frowned as she was struggling to remember the events of the previous night. But it was not long until the lost pieces of information came back and formed a number of cracked images of Xellos and his unnatural possessiveness.

She blushed when she remembered how he kissed her while he mended her arm. It was so strange. No Mazoku should be able to heal anyone. It went against their nature. To think that he would go out of his way so far to do something like that for her…

And at last Fiia remembered the chaos that broke them apart and an angry Zelas covered in eggshells, and that was when her her expression turned stern and she pointed her finger accusingly between Val's eyes.

" _Jege! Tarrmate ges!_ " _(_ You! You got high! _)_ She shouted, all memories of kisses and healing suddenly thrown aside.

Filia scrambled out of his hold but when she tried to put her foot on the ground, she nearly fell before she noticed that they've been sitting on her bed. Fortunately Val took a hold of her upper arm before she ended up on the floor.

She struggled to regain her balance for a few seconds and nearly pulled the other dragon off of the bed along with herself before she finally stood on her own two feet without acting like a shaky toddler. Without much of a warning she then swiftly took off her slipper and slammed it against Vals dirty face.

" _Jege granta!_ " _(You idiot!)_ Filia yelled in anger and swung the slipper to hit him again, but he dodged the blow by throwing himself flat onto her bed. "Æ geta jege tem iveor faver er sabiþ! Tie dané hata jega ete wer mang æ fagal ize markh!? _(i had not given you these herbs so you could waste them! How many times do i have to tell you to stop taking this shit!?)"_

" _Téreman! Ée gorthe! Hvite geva mer savae geth!"_ (I'm sorry! I was hurt! I needed something to dull the pain!) Val cried out into the sheets while Filia continued to pummel his back with a leather slipper.

" _Æ kirr éer da! Gura þierar mative geth fer áate, jege rava!"_ (I don't care! You can endure some of it just fine, you stoner!) She bellowed and the whole house seemed to tremble in fear of her wrath.

" _Xellos éer tvisa!" (Xellos attacked me!)_ The other dragon yelped. " _Unev za…"_ (He's onto us…)

At that, Filia stopped and stood above him with a slipper still in her raised hand. She dropped onto Val's back unceremoniously and then balled her hand into a fist and swung it around as she turned away from him.

" _Nen ka ima?"_ (And whose fault is that?) _She growled._

Val pushed himself up on his elbows and looked at her. He couldn't see her expression but he knew her well enough to know that she pushed her lips into a thin line and narrowed her eyes to glare through the window.

An angry Filia was a force to be reckoned with, and this time, she was enraged enough to shake herself out of her dark episode. Val couldn't decide if her short temper was a good thing when it came to her condition, or not. While it was true that negative emotions were the ones that were driving her further and further to the point of no return, her anger didn't seem to have the same effect despite being one of them.

Perhaps that was because it was more of a personality trait than a temporary state of mind? Being hot headed is something that people do inherit from their parents in certain cases after all. And Gold Dragons were known to get overly emotional very fast.

" _Ag ovr ate? Damu jege gotrav?"_ (What did you tell him? Did he manage to hurt you very badly?) Filia asked after a moment of silence. Her voice already began to lose the rigid tone it carried when she was angry.

"Ægir ovr æ ate, adar vamiyan éere ad rema ad kavam æ angar caas. _(I didn't tell him anything, but he phased us to a place to which i hoped to never return.)"_ Val replied as his expression turned serious.

So that is why Xellos had that bell… Filia thought. She remembered the terror of what the sound of it heralded. Those bells were supposed to never appear in front of her though. How ironic it was to see it in the Mazoku's hand.

"From one Mazoku to the other…" She murmured to herself, but Val knew her her words and was aware of their meaning.

Filia turned slightly her head to look at Val then. "There was a time when I thought that it was his doing, that we weren't even worth his time and he's sent someone to get rid of the problem."

"I know, Úlita. We've talked about this many times." The younger dragon said and shook his head sadly while he moved to get up.

Her episode was clearly over, and her anger appeared to be thinning out as well.

She turned to face him fully and crossed her arms on her chest. "Now. Get out."

"Huh?"

"I said: Out!" The dragoness pointed firmly at the door leading out of her room. "You're dirty and you stink of weed! I don't want to see or smell out until you have washed all this crap off of yourself!"

"Wha- I-... fine I'm going." He whined and dragged himself towards the washroom but a slipper hitting his lower back had him halt his steps and turn around to stare at her in resignation.

"I mean, out of my house." Filia hissed and looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Outside!?" Val squeaked. "But-! But-! Why!"

"Because it's still your fault. Besides I want to take a bath right now, and I won't tolerate a dirty bathtub, nor your smelly towels anywhere near me." She stated firmly.

"I'll clean it!" The younger dragon protested.

"No." Filia crossed her arms defiantly on her chest.

Feeling utterly defeated, Val turned around and walked past her and toward the front door. But before he managed to take a step outside the sound of her voice had stopped him once again.

"Valtýr.. ." She said hesitantly, drawing his attention back to herself. "Why do you think is he doing this?"

This question made him raise his head in order to look at Filia. It took him a second to realize who she was referring to.

"I- I honestly don't know. He hadn't contacted me since he left." Val replied after a few moments of hesitation. "I only noticed that he had been acting strange before we parted ways , like, he was kind of calmer? But he never said why."

Filia only nodded solemnly and turned toward the kitchen. The recent situation had put more strain on her than she was capable of enduring and in the back of her mind she had already made a decision to forget about Xellos and not dwell on the past.

Seeing that she wanted to be alone and seemingly in no danger of falling into another episode, Val rubbed his face with both of his palms and walked out of their house. Deciding that it will take his a few hours to go to the nearby lake and wash most of the dirt and the smell of weed that Filia hated so much, he reached to a hidden pocket inside his tunic and fished out a cigar-like looking object.

"Well, if I'm not going to be home for some more time I might as well hit another blunt… " He rasped as he lit the blunt by blowing out some fire on it like one would blow air at dandelions, and went down the path that led in the direction of the lake.

At the same time Xellos was sitting amongst the debris of the bombed city that lay nearby the forest in which Filia had build her cottage. He's been greatly disturbed by his recent actions and for most of the night he had tried to find a rational explanation to his unusual behavior. Not to mention that he had disobeyed a direct order from his master to not enter the remains of the city to avoid being seen in this area.

He's never disobeyed an order to blatantly and for a moment wondered about the consequences he would surely face when he got back.

For most of the night he had wandered about the ruins, picking up (or tearing off) any left hands of every corpse he had happened to stumble upon and holding them together like a bouquet of freshly plucked flowers. The smell of burnt flesh and an overall aura of misery had brightened his mood considerably. And when he had no room in his arms for more left hands, he stuck them in a ground in a neat rows sorting them by the amount of burn the flesh had suffered.

The city was completely destroyed by the bombs, leaving no survivors and it was situated a good distance away from other human dwellings. So even a day after the catastrophe no one seemed to be on their way to investigate the noise that the enormous explosions had caused.

Xellos mused that, in the end, no one would come to investigate but that would be too good to be true. People lived here, they traded, sent mail, traveled, etc. Eventually someone would get fed up with an unanswered messages, or unpaid loans and they would be on their merry way to… whatever this place was once called.

He was sitting now on a pile of burnt debris and throwing rocks at the hands that he stuck into the ground, trying to throw them with enough force and precision to have a small rock leave a hole in the palm as is passed through the flesh, but without making the hand fall flat on the ground.

He was successful for the most part.

Only the memory of Filia had him destabilize enough to fail at shooting through yet another palm of a partially melted hand and it got knocked off instead.

He shouldn't be bothered this much by whatever was happening with Filia. She was only lending them a place to hide and the sole reason for her to do so was because of Val's childish fascination with him. He had felt no fear whatsoever coming from that stupid dragon. Val resembled Filia in that overconfident demeanor when faced with something he could not handle or, quite possibly, understand.

The apple didn't fall far from the tree, Xellos thought.

But it seemed that she has finally sobered up when it came to handling Mazoku. It did not feel as pleasing as Xellos thought it would though. During their Darkstar campaign he had found her lack of fear and respect for him annoying on the most part, however, that had also made her interesting in his eyes. But now that she did seem more distanced from him, even though she tried to maintain her previous persona, something felt off. Unnatural even.

And when he saw her in Milgasia's arms, half-conscious and clinging to that old Golden Dragon... it had pushed him to the brink of such wild anger that if his master had not been there, he would have ended Milgasia's miserable life right on the spot. He couldn't tell what came over him. He even healed her after the whole ordeal. Whenever they were close he couldn't stop himself from wanting to initiate some form of physical contact with Filia and he had found it difficult to stay away from her for long.

At some point while he was sitting in the middle of a wrecked city he had admitted to himself that something was happening to him that no Mazoku would never even take into consideration

in their wildest dreams. He didn't want to think about this particular thing any further lest he'll admit something impossible to himself and self-destructs on the spot.

He thought about the bell instead. The one he'd found while he was interrogating Val. Fila's reaction to seeing it had piqued his interest. For some unfathomable reason she seemed truly frightened of it, also, there was something about song that she had sung out when she left the cottage; he was nearly certain that it was some sort of a message for it had been laced with power but unlike a spell it had not resulted in any reaction from their surroundings. He knew that the words were carried by the currents between the fabrics of space and matter, he could feel it.

Xellos remembered something similar happening during the Koma War, but he'd been too young back then to fully comprehend what was happening because the words were exchanged constantly through the span of the war and only after it was over did the songs gradually recede.

It must have been the dragons communicating with each other astrally in their own languages, he thought. Perhaps Filia was calling for Val?

He slowly opened his eyes and glared at the burnt and disfigured hands that were sticking out of the ground in front of him.

Or maybe she was calling for Milgasia? Are there any other dragons beside him with whom she is familiar? Could it have been Nevabedaya? Does she have that sort of ability?

Why did Filia's pain made him choke?

Xellos stood up abruptly and phased out. If there was something he could not stand, it was being in the middle of a mess that he knew absolutely _nothing_ about while weaklings like Filia and Val had all the information he needed.

He followed Filia's astral signature and appeared in her washroom.

She was sitting in the bathtub with her back against the wall and a big cup of what appeared to be a black tea in her hands. At the sight of him she promptly let go of it and started screaming.

"Be quiet, will you? I'm not in the mood to deal with your insolence today." Xellos threatened as he kept eyeing the naked dragoness who was squirming in the tea infused water and trying to cover herself with her hands.

The tone of his voice and the unusually unhappy expression that betrayed his nature were enough to silence her protests. But it did not stop her from glowering at him and trying to push herself further underwater to at least make her feel like she was covered by _something_.

"Say what you want and get out!" She hissed.

"It's not going to be that simple." He replied as he took a step towards her.

Filia felt herself shiver under the scrutinizing gaze of the Monster's cold, amethyst eyes. He stared her down with a curious mixture of hunger, frustration and mockery. As if he himself didn't know how to go about whatever he wanted to do.

"There are things I wish you to tell me and I won't tolerate 'no' for an answer." He said calmly as he drew closer.

"NO!" Filia yelled from her corner of the bathtub.

That made Xellos move faster and then he lifted one leg and stepped into the water. To Filia's horror, he placed the other leg at the bottom of the tub next to the first one and sat down across her, fully clothed.

"I said someth-"

"You're going too far with this! Get out of here at once!" Filia hissed as she tried to push herself as far away from him as possible.

Unfortunately that only made him lean in towards her with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"You're not in position to order me around, Filia." He grimaced, making her flinch at the acidic tone of his voice.

He quickly pulled out the squashed bell, that he'd found during his skirmish with Val, from his soaked bag and shoved it at Filia, uncaring for her reaction this time.

At first- her eyes widened up in surprise and her entire body tensed, but then her expression quickly changed into one of disgust mixed with horror and she tried to quickly scramble out of the bathtub. But before she managed to get out Xellos grabbed her by the neck and pinned her down, nearly forcing her head under water.

"Let me go, scum!" She yelled and trashed, spilling water everywhere.

"Not unless you tell me what this is supposed to mean." The Mazoku hissed at as he waved the bell that he still held in his free hand in front of her.

"Why does it even bother you so much!?" Filia bit back as she desperately tried to claw her way out of his grip.

He shoved his face closer to hers. "Now this, is a secret." Xellos said without much of his ever present humour in his words.

"It doesn't concern you!" She tried to slap him but the Mazoku just let the bell fall into the water and caught her arm mid-swing by the wrist, and refused to release it.

"Now, I wouldn't be so fast with such assumptions. You see, everything that you're involved in seems to have an impact on me to some degree. And something is telling me, that this time is no different." He pulled her closer despite her struggles to get free.

"Why won't you just let go for once!?" Filia cried out in frustration.

"Because it's not in my nature. You should already know that." He stated flatly and looked at her with eyes absent of any emotion. "I happened to throw Val into a middle of -I presumed- nowhere to have a little alone time with him, but it had turned out that we were having a talk between the ashes of old Soplica town. I had not wasted a single thought to wonder about the untimely destruction of that place... until now." His stare got more determined with every word he spoke.

"Long story short, Val had recognised that little piece of metal that you are so desperate to get away from and avoided getting a well deserved right hook in the face." Xellos continued. "As far as I know, Soplica had been completely burned down and let me guess; it met its early demise by dragonfire?"

Filia ripped her hand out of his grasp as fast as she felt his hold on her falter. She quickly jumped out of the bathtub nearly slipping on the wet wooden floor and immediately made her way to the door. But Xellos was faster and he effortlessly teleported between her and the exit, barring her only escape route.

"I won't let you out until you answer my questions." He said and his lips twitched upwards when he saw Filia take a step back realising that she's completely naked.

That had obviously made her panic even more and she turned around to grab a towel, but once again he appeared between her and her target, only this time he has standing much closer than before. She almost grabbed onto his garments but quickly withdrew her hands before they'd made contact with the fake fabric of his shirt.

"Tell me about that bell and I will leave you alone for now." He crooned.

But it did not have a desired effect on the dragones for she greeted her teeth in anger and embarrassment, and glared up at him.

"I will tell you nothing and you shall still leave!" She hissed and began chanting a holly spell.

That finally made the Mazoku stop smirking down at Filia and this time he was the one to back away.

"You don't really mean to use this spell on me, Filia." He laughed nervously as he remembered the magnitude of damage the same exact spell had inflicted on Almayce centuries ago.

But she had been relentless in her chanting. And if that wasn't enough bad news for Xellos, he had suddenly found himself seeking an intervention from his master only to find out that Zelas is not in the house. Nor anywhere nearby.

The realization that she decided to vacate her current hideout while she's unable to regain control over her astral body and not inform her most trusted subordinate had startled him. Did she leave him as a punishment for visiting the destroyed city after she had told him not to?

No. Something like that would be too childish for her to do. But where would she go?

Xellos quickly glanced at Filia who nearly managed to finish her spell.

"Fine! I'll go!" He threw up his hands in defeat. "You've got me here." He admitted, if only to placate the angry dragoness in front of him.

"And take your master with you! Go back to hell, where you belong!" She snarled at him and stomped her bare foot against the wooden planks that made up the majority of the floor.

This time he didn't have to be told twice. The Mazoku has disappeared from the cottage only to show up a few yards away from it, next to the rim of the forest clearing before going down the path that led deeper into the woods.

He briefly noted Filia's lack of awareness about his masters disappearance, which only meant that Zelas had not been gone for long. His dragon had probably been too worked up to notice the absence of the other Monster, which was a little worrying given Filia's obsession with detecting any Mazoku within ten leagues radius.

Nonetheless he had received no orders from Zelas prior to her disappearance and Filia had proven herself to be more dangerous than he had given her credit for, so he had chosen to withdraw and see what happens next. His master had definitely not left the cottage without a reason. Or at least that what he has been telling himself as he went down the winding path until he reached another clearing.

Feeling a little down and useless at the moment, Xellos walked out of the forest only to be met with a sight of a great black dragon laying on its back in a lake of which quite considerable size was still not enough to contain the beast that had decided to take a bath in it.

Well aren't they all alike? The Mazoku tilted his head as he stared at the dragon. He opened his eyes slightly in annoyance and a frown appeared on his face.

"Val." He said in a voice more flat than the wooden floor in Filia's bathroom.

"Whhhh?" The dragon in question drawled lazily and his golden eyes rimmed, with thick turquoise outline, turned towards the source of the intrusive voice that seemed to be either calling his name, or not. Depending if the person to whom it belonged really did say something.

Or maybe it was just the wind blowing between the branches of trees that surrounded him thickly enough to resemble an elaborate maze rather than a simple forest.

Valtýr couldn't tell. The weed that he had smoked after Filia had yelled him out of their cottage was dimming his senses. Oh! How he loved being this stupid! The world seemed to be much simpler when he couldn't be bothered with its elaborate mechanics and simply let himself be carried by the flow.

Another obstacle with perceiving objects, people and things in-between (such as Mazoku) was the size difference between his current dragon body and the aforementioned factors. For his body has been far larger than that of any other dragon's and his wings were sticking far out of the edges of the lake and had been spread on the wet moss around it. Not to mention that his weight was causing a small flooding around the area.

Xellos would be lying if he said that he was unimpressed by the sight so he resolved to simply not address the topic of Val's appearance. But he did find himself quite puzzled by the other's decision to change his body into its native form.

"What are you doing here?" The Mazoku asked, genuinely curious as to why Val would be spending time in the lake instead of running back home along with Milgasia to get Filia out of, what Milgasia would call, danger.

"Ay Xellos, whaddup?" The Ancient slurred in direction opposite of his company.

"I asked you a question. It would be unwise to deny me an answer again ." Xellos growled in annoyance. He ran out of patience for Val the last time they spoke, and had very little intention of holding back for long were the dragon to decide not to cooperate.

"She kicked you out too?" Va turned his large head towards the priest who stood a few yards away.

The question in itself presented an answer and Xellos's shoulders slumped in defeat after hearing it.

"Yeah… " He admitted and after a second he had quickly recovered from a wave of exasperation. But the dragon's question raised another one. "What did she kick you out for?"

That made Val look up at the cloudless sky. "I blazed all the weed I had on me before I managed to get back home. Man, she hates when I smoke... " He trailed off and in the very moment Xellos had decided to say something, the dragon in front of him spat out a thick pillar of fire into the sky.

The flames were so horrendously hot and bright that the light of the day itself seemed to diminish around them. That proved that the power of Ancient Dragon's fire breath was by far more dangerous than Xellos had anticipated and the sight of it made the Mazoku reevaluate a few things he thought he knew about the creature that currently laid sprawled in front of him. Which was a good thing since that made Val a pretty useful tool for future use. Especially considering the series of disasters that had been recently brought upon the monster race.

But setting that aside, Xellos walked up to the dragon's head, which was lying on a muddy beach that later turned more sandy as it descended into the waters. He looked up to stare into Val's eye intending to resume their conversation from the wheat fields, however the difference in size proved to be in the way.

Threatening Val right now would be like screaming at a mountain, and it sure felt like that to the priest who failed to make the dragon look at him. Violence was out of question, as it had already proven to be ineffective in making him speak.

It didn't help that Val was currently higher than any dragon could fly. The Ancient's pupils were blown wide and his tail swished lazily on the beach situated on the other end of the lake, tossing logs and some smaller trees around in the process. But Val's intoxication could also be used to Xellos's advantage.

The Mazoku remained silent for a few short moments. Then, after tying a few loose facts along with several unprecise observations and assumptions into knots, and twisting them to resemble a string of coherent words he very sloppily formed a plan that would, or would not work. Which didn't matter much because he severely overpowered the dragon in front of him anyway. Still… things would go much smoother if the scaly fool decided to cooperate.

"There are a few things bothering me but I don't think that I am in possession of such knowledge. You on the other hand, I find rather well informed when it comes to certain matters which would be of great use to me." Xellos flashed his most courteous smile at the dragon in hopes that enough flattery will coax Val into yielding information that he was so far unwilling to share. The Ancient's drug induced brain surely would have trouble with processing Xellos's meticulously crafted interrogation.

"Yeah go on…" Val grunted without bothering to even look at him.

"Ah, first of all, I should apologize for treating you so badly on our way back from… your place of business? I must confess that you had surprised me back then, which rarely happens to a Mazoku of my rank." Xellos bowed shortly and glanced from under his fringe at the large yellow eye which had so far remained unfocused.

"Uhm, 's cool bro… " The dragon replied dully.

That wasn't a reply Xellos expected to get. His mouth twitched as he straightened up and dug his staff into the ground, however, he was far from giving up.

"Also, while you were away I had encountered a slight problem with Filia. She's been acting like she's in great pain. You see, I took her to bed and offered my further assistance but the first thing she asked me for was a bottle of absinthe hidden beside her bed. It's not like I've found it surprising that a Golden would resort to such practices but the reason for her drinking so much of it had me quite puzzled… Care to elaborate?" The priest cocked his head to the side, mimicking a confused expression.

Val seemed to tense at those words but then the dragon's tail had swept across the corresponding beach back and forth, and his throat had made a gurgling sound. It all led to Val sucking in a lungful of air and then spitting up a great column of fire into the sky once again. When he was done, he lazily smacked his jaws two times and grunted.

"Well… she's sick, I guess." Val responded with apparent disinterest in their conversation.

The Mazoku's grip on his staff tightened. He couldn't feel anything from Val, no fear, no joy, no nothing, not even hunger. That's so annoying, talking to that dragon was like trying to decipher some sort of a secret code.

"Aren't you worried though? Maybe I could help you cure her? I might sound weird coming from a Mazoku, but I didn't like watching her suffer." Xellos said as he took a step closer to Val hooping he'll be able to finally catch his attention.

It seemed to work, for the dragon's eye had turned to stare down at him in contemplation briefly before it returned to its previous task which was pretty much gazing at the empty sky, without a sliver of thought behind it.

"I wouldn't catch you lying so sucks to be you as much as it sucks to be her. I don't know what's up wit her tho…" Val replied lazily.

Xellos had to resist the urge to jam the sharp end of his staff into Val's eye. That idiot was supposed to get emotional and start spilling information. How is that possible that someone raised by someone like Filia doesn't get temper tantrums and is capable of such emotional detachment that a possibly fatal illness of their family member doesn't move them in the slightest?

"Were you always like this?" The Priest hissed through clenched teeth. What was with him getting so easily pissed off by a few words spoken by a dragon?

"I think I used to be more honest. Uhhh… and smaller, like, I remember being half my current size." Val said thoughtfully.

"That's not what I mant!" Xellos struck the ground with his staff in frustration. "Im serious here, I can't understand how can you be so bland!"

"HHn. I don't know what you expected. If you haven't noticed already, I'm just a criminal making a life out of the world's misery. Kinda like a Mazoku bro." The dragon shrugged making large waves hit the beach in the process.

"Oh no you're not like us. We have a certain pride to uphold, and you- you're such a **reptile.** " The Priest shook his finger at Val in much more threatening way than he used to.

"Heh, at least I have the capacity to be a decent and compassionate person, unlike you. Haven't you ever been jealous of that?" Val turned his great, black snout towards the Mazoku nearily crushing Xellos.

"I don't get jealous over such petty things. Besides, I don't remember inviting you to ask me about anything." Xellos sneered finding himself unable to play nice to Val anymore.

"So, you can get jealous, just not about mortal emotions and such." The Ancient noted out loud. "You're so pitiful."

"What?" The Mazoku halted all his thought processes for a moment to better examine the words he had just heard.

"I pity you, Mazoku, who possess only one way of existence. Created only to carve extinction, unable to understand something as simple as joy of living, poisoned by mere thought of love. Nonsense creatures." Val said in such a low and cruel voice, that even a Mazoku as powerful as Xellos could feel the raw whiplash of the words spoken to him.

"You lowlife… You're dead-" Xellos didn't have the opportunity to finish the sentence because the ground began to shake and crack as a great shockwave swept across the continent. He turned his head sharply northway and opened his eyes wide.

"What's up?" Val whispered warily.

"The King of the North… something's happening with him." The Priest replied, brows knitted in concentration and lips twisted into a frown.

Within seconds Xellos was gone, heading for his master to assess the situation and await further orders.

Alone, Val turned back to stare at the sky. "I bet it's Xeinaar's doing… what a crazy fucker." He mumbled to himself and yawned. And just as he closed his massive jaws another Mazoku had appeared next to his head.

It looked like a big furry ostrich with a large beak and a pair of pointy ears turning left and right, it's big yellow eyes seemed to be frantically looking for something.

Val nearly jumped on his back at the unexpected intruder.

"AHAHA! Da hell ya suppos'd ta be?!" The dragon squeaked in mirth when he took a better look at the creature skipping beside his head.

The Mazoku skipped a few times around the place previously occupied by Xellos. It snapped its beak frantically and puffed up, which made it look even funnier, but despite appearance, Val wasn't stupid.

"You be lookin' for that Priest ain't ya?" He asked and as if in confirmation, the creature bobbed it's head up and down and jumped wildly in place. "I know where he should be right now, but nothing's for free." The dragon bared his teeth in a wicked smile and the Mazoku immediately seemed to shrink into itself.


End file.
